


A Long Overdue Family Reunion

by Roiwiez



Series: Path to Forgiveness [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Backstory For Nero's Mom, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Lots Of Harsh Language From Nero, Lots of Angst, More Bickering Between The Brothers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-DMC5, This Time There's Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26518732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roiwiez/pseuds/Roiwiez
Summary: Dante and Vergil have been in Hell for well over a year and when news of an imminent invasion on the human world reaches them they decide it's time to finally return home.Nero's been commissioned by Morrison to stop a suspected demon invasion from breaking out in his home town of Fortuna and is determined to finally prove himself as a devil hunter.Neither of them are prepared for the family reunion they're charging into.
Relationships: Dante & Nero (Devil May Cry), Dante & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Kyrie/Nero (Devil May Cry), Nero & Nico (Devil May Cry), Nero & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Nero's Mother/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Series: Path to Forgiveness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928215
Comments: 37
Kudos: 203





	1. What was her name?

The brother’s ears wouldn’t stop ringing. After the short lived truce Dante called, the brothers went back to business as usual, though both could tell that the other was fighting with even more ferocity than before. Every strike rang up their arms, every projectile fired missed their target by millimeters, and the noise was deafening. The brothers were locked in another stalemate, another tie, and it was clear that whoever managed to land the next blow would be the winner.

Vergil refused to let Dante win after he managed to obtain a new source of power.

Vergil stares Dante down, Yamato held high in his hands. Both of them have been holding their most powerful forms for a while now and feeling power overflow from his body causes Vergil to break into a wicked smile. Dante stood not far in front of him, breathing heavily and letting out a plume of black smoke with each exhale. It was a scene that was shockingly familiar to Vergil, as if they had stood exactly like this not long ago. It’s foolish, but Vergil has a creeping fear that someone would throw themselves between him and Dante again.

Dante lets out a booming roar as he shoots forward through the air, his devil sword held high. Vergil sets his worries aside and charges to meet his brother head on, kicking off the ground and letting his heavy wings catch the air. Virgil soars with unrestrained excitement as power surges through his arms and the temperature rises as the heat radiating off Dante’s body gets closer. With maybe only half a second of distance between them however, both of the brothers take notice of something charging in from the sides.

Rather than turn their swords on each other, both brothers bank to the side and thrust their swords into the interloper with extreme prejudice. Yamato sinks into its target hilt deep, and for good measure Vergil sends half a dozen summoned swords into its center mass. Dante’s massive blade comes in shortly after, easily cleaving the target in two and cauterizing the massive wounds with the flames flaring off of it.

It all happened in less than a quarter of a second, but Vergil realizes he’s been holding his breath the whole time this attacker was close. Now that he’s identified it, he can relax.

It was a Fury, either brave or dumb enough to try and ambush them while they were at their most powerful. Vergil pulls Yamato free from the remains of the demon's guts and cleans it off with a flourish, letting it click home in its sheath as his demonic form recedes back to his human one. Dante gives the remains of the Fury two good smashes with the blunt side of his sword, clearly frustrated and trying to release some of his extra energy to return to his own human form.

The two brothers crash to the ground as exhaustion takes hold. They’ve managed to push their limits and hold their devil triggers for longer periods of time, but it was still incredibly draining. Their fights with each other have actually slowed down so they could focus on culling the demons around them to regain their power to have a proper fight. As unsatisfying as this anticlimax was, the tie breaking match would have to wait.

They lie flat on their backs, straining to catch their breaths and listen for any other potential threats. The ringing in Vergil’s ears starts to die down as silence settles into the air after all the carnage that took place less than a minute ago. Even the strange ambiance of hell had gone quiet. In that brief moment of silence, Dante eventually sat up and began doing the thing Vergil was desperately hoping for and horribly anxious about.

Dante started talking again.

“Ok, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Vergil prays to whatever higher power he hasn’t slaughtered yet for him to stop. “What possessed you to wear open toed sandals and a leather corset through the whole demon invasion?”

“Huh?!” Vergil sits up, completely taken aback by a question he wasn’t expecting. He visually deflates as he lies back again, glad to have avoided a topic he desperately wants to ignore.

“I had no choice.” Vergil responds. “When I was reborn as V, I had nothing to my name except a collection of William Blake, left untouched by the fires that burned our home, and a new feathery friend. If you’re going to start belittling me over my fashion choices, turn your insults towards the deviant I stole them from.”

“You didn’t take one look at that guy and think ‘maybe I’ll steal from the next guy?’” Dante argues. “You couldn’t just break into some thrift store and get yourself some decent boots before marching into the qliphoth?”

“My mind was set on much more pressing matters Dante!” Vergil spats back. “I wasn’t fit to do anything, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat that punk myself with what I was left with. I didn’t care about what I looked like, only that I was decent and wouldn’t waste precious time dealing with the authorities.” There was much more to it than that, but none of it was something he dared share aloud. He was terrified and desperate, trying to gather his familiars and find some way to contact Dante to fix his own mess. He was so pitiably weak, he had no choice but to steal and scavenge just to afford the attention of his rival and beg for help.

But that’s all past him now. He suffered through the hellscape that was Red Grave and managed to thrive in it, even without the limitless power he had now. As much as he loathed being so fragile and helpless compared to what he is now, he must admit he is proud of what he accomplished with so little.

“Now, if you have some other nonsense tangent to go off on let's cut this one short.” Vergil orders. “I will not sit here and listen to you belittle me for things I had no control over.”

“No control over?! You’re the one who-” Vergil sits up again and stares his brother down, not bothering to repeat his demand. Dante drops whatever response he was going to make with a groan and Vergil gives him a smirk. That was something that Vergil was growing to like about this new mature Dante he was learning about, he actually seemed to listen to him for once. Vergil crosses his legs and awaits the start of Dante’s next conversation, and gets the air knocked out of him when Dante brings up the topic he was afraid of.

“So who was the lucky lady that brought the lovable bundle of hate Nero into this world huh?” It was a question Dante had meant to ask over and over, but new topics kept bubbling up to the surface. This was something big, Nero was living proof that no matter how averse to the idea he was, Virgil was still capable of love. It was also a mostly harmless question, but judging from the reaction Vergil had to it he might as well have stabbed him.

“Let's talk about something else.” Vergil quickly sputters out before pushing himself up to his feet. What’s got him so defensive all of a sudden?

“You already changed the subject! We’re sticking with this one!” Dante rises to meet his brother and in response Vergil starts walking off at a brisk pace, trying to put distance between them. “Where in Hell do you think you’re going?!”

“If you’re going to continue pestering me than I’d rather go for a walk!” Vergil responds and Dante scoffs.

“Hey! You can’t use that excuse against me!”

“And you can’t catch me if I don’t want you to, so change the topic or remain silent!” Vergil snaps back and Dante cannot believe this shit. This man was in his forties and he’s acting like a snobby little brat! Dante had discovered a little trump card whenever he got like this though.

“You know this is going to be one of the first things Nero asks about when you come home.” Just as Dante suspected, mentioning Nero’s name brings Vergil’s tantrum to an immediate halt.

Nero was a subject that seemed to give Vergil a jolt anytime he heard his name. Dante would give away his favorite jacket just to know what went on in Vergil’s head whenever his son was brought up in conversation, but bargaining to understand anything about Vergil was a losing game. If Dante had to guess though, hearing Nero’s name overwhelmed his brother’s mind with too many emotions to manage.

Vergil may find it hard to believe he cares about someone else’s well being other than his own and Dante’s.

With a grounding deep breath, Vergil spins on his heels and marches back towards Dante. Before he can get a word in or even thank him for stopping, Vergil grabs hold of Dante’s shirt and pulls him close.

“I will hear no childish comments or quips as I tell this story.” Vergil hisses. “Make one peep and I’ll cut out your tongue as your first warning.”

“But you’ll still keep talking?” Vergil didn’t respond to that, which might as well have been confirmation. Dante’s allowed one interruption at the price of his tongue. “The stage is yours, I’ll keep my peace.” Dante zips his lips and Vergil lets him go, backing up and pacing for a moment before he speaks up.

“I…” Vergil starts, but then falls silent again. He continues his aimless pacing back and forth, his hand occasionally moving to grasp Yamato. Dante remains silently and impatiently, watching his brother struggle to find the words he’s looking for. He wants to say something to get him going, but he’s not going to test Vergil’s promise to him that he'll be silenced immediately. With a couple hushed mutterings to himself, Vergil finally seems to break through whatever mental barrier was holding him back and begins his tale.

“I was in Fortuna.” Vergil starts, and Dante lights up a bit. “The whole town was ruled by a theocratic organization known as the Order of the Sword, an organization that worshiped our late father Sparda.” Dante nods and hums along, making Vergil raise a questioning eyebrow at him. “You knew about them?” Dante attempts to open up his mouth, but it seems he’s contractually bound to be mute and cannot elaborate. Vergil sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You are permitted to speak for now.” Dante raises a hand to unzip his mouth before he goes on to explain.

“Me and the girls all left for Fortuna a few years ago to stop a full scale demon invasion.” Dante begins. “Those Order of the Sword fella’s started opening up hell gates all over town under the orders of their leader. Turns out, it was another big plot to steal our father’s power for themselves. Seems to be a running theme for megalomaniacal psycho’s I know.” Vergil frowns as he is reminded of the last devil that tried to take father’s power for himself. His frown deepens further as he realizes that Dante is comparing him to those same monsters. Rather than lash out at him however, Vergil decides to take a more civil approach to dealing with this insult.

“Wow, a seven syllable word!” Vergil gasps. “I didn’t even think you could count that high, let alone retain such a complex word in your memory!”

“It was a fun word Nero taught me, and it was a perfect fit for you so I remembered it.” Bringing Nero up again wipes the satisfied smirk off Vergil’s face and shuts him up long enough for Dante to counter. “Anyways, back to your story, you were in Fortuna?” Dante zips his lips shut again before Vergil gets the chance to order him to. He stands there, frustrated and fumbling to find where he left off in his story even though he hadn’t really started it.

“I left for Fortuna in hopes that the Order of the Sword would have some knowledge about Sparda’s fate and where sources of his power could lie.” Vergil finally starts up again. “If anyone would know, the people who worshiped him should have some clues. I suppose I also had suspicions that they might have more malicious goals behind their worship, and from the sounds of it I was right.” Dante gives him an affirmative nod.

“While I was there…” Vergil stops again, clearly still flustered over something. “There was this woman…” Dante can’t help but smile and hold back a laugh with how flustered and anxious Vergil seems while talking about this. It must have been obvious because Vergil turns his back on him completely, not wanting to see the stupid look on his face while he tried to spit this all out.

“Her name was Donatella.” Vergil finally utters, and with all the suspense he built up from being so indecisive, hearing her name nearly knocked Dante to the floor. Clearly it took a toll on Vergil as well because rather than stand with his back turned on Dante he sits down and stares off into the distance, his brother's presence completely forgotten.

“I had mistaken her to be a demon at first.” Vergil mumbles on, “A seductress that was trying to slip past my defenses, lower my guard and strike while I wasn’t vigilant. I had started to notice her, throwing glances my way and frequenting the same streets I would wander when I felt that my hiding place wasn’t safe anymore. Everyone either ignored me or avoided me, but for whatever reason she decided to follow…” Another brief pause.

“I had nearly cut her down right in the middle of the street when she tapped my shoulder to ask me my name. How foolish must I have seemed to her when I batted her hand away and demanded she left me alone. Despite my demands, she persisted. She waited on the same side streets I wandered for me to appear, and every time she would rush up and ask the same question. It was a harmless enough question, so I obliged. Then, she told me her name.”

“Donatella…” Dante had no idea if Vergil was repeating her name out of longing, grief, or even resentment. Vergil sort of just sneered at everyone he talked to, like it was a waste of his time to talk to them. The way he says her name isn’t that same tone, but whatever tone it is was unreadable coming from Vergil’s mouth.

“I had trained myself to remain vigilant at all times, to expect an ambush or attempt on my life at any moment… but I made an exception just this once. It had been so long since I… well, since I had anyone to talk to. To put my sword down, to lower my defenses, to just… be calm for once. Even when we-” Vergil clears his throat and wipes at his nose, growing a bit more flustered as he realizes just how open he’s being right now. “Even as we lay together, I had left Yamato in the corner of the room, out of reach. I tried to force myself to leave it there, to just ignore my troubles and actually enjoy the moment, but I couldn’t take it.”

“I couldn’t risk a future I tried to build for myself going up in flames again.”

“So when my business was done in Fortuna, I left without looking back. There was nothing for me in Fortuna, so I moved on to the text clue. I put everything in that town behind me, yet I couldn’t forget that woman’s name…”

“You’re only human.” Dante comments before immediately biting his tongue. To his surprise and relief, Vergil did not uphold his threat of removing Dante’s ability to speak, he instead just let out a frustrated sigh.

“A fact that I’m reminded of time and time again.” Vergil grumbles. He falls into silence again, clearly finished with his story. Hesitant to test Vergil’s patience again, Dante eventually builds up the nerve to press him further.

“Do you know what happened to her?” Vergil’s hand reaches over and grabs hold of Yamato. Dante tenses as he waits for him to strike, but Vergil doesn’t move to stand up. He’s holding onto Yamato like a lifeline.

“I don’t know.” Vergil wipes his nose again. “I’m not sure I want to, but it’s safe to assume she’s dead.” Vergil pulls Yamato from his hip and onto his lap, popping it out of its sheath before clicking it back in. He repeats this action in a rhythmic motion; pop, click, pop, click. “Mundus’ assassin’s were never far from my trail, they knew to follow the smell of Sparda’s blood, no doubt that scent lingered even after I left.” With one more click as Yamato falls into its sheath, Vergil actually turns to face Dante. “Do you know what Nero’s childhood was like?”

Dante actually flinches when he sees Vergil’s face. Not only has the iciness of Vergil’s eyes melted again, but the redness around his eyes is proof that he’s desperately trying to hold something back. This Donatella woman must have meant a lot to him, and while Vergil’s voice was still steady and calm, he was anything but. Dante clears his throat and averts his eyes, not wanting to see his brother like this and knowing his brother doesn’t want to be seen like this either.

“Well, uh…” Dante starts, trying to remember old conversations he barely paid attention to. “He grew up in an orphanage for one. Never knew his parents, though he knew they hadn’t stuck around. No one else had hair as white as his growing up. He made some good friends while he was at the orphanage, some who are still by his side today, and others who didn’t make it.” Dante curses himself for forgetting the name of the man who tried to save Nero from the Savior. Him and Kyrie talk about him all the time, hell the man even gave Dante his last requests!

“At some point he joined up with the whole Order of the Sword business.” Dante continues, berating himself for his forgetfulness in silence. “The Order had some evil scheme going on in the background, but they were also the only thing protecting the town from the constant demon attacks. Now that I think about it, if it wasn’t just the hell gates that were built all around town, Nero being a direct descendant of Sparda would probably attract a crowd.”

“I dropped in a few years ago, shot the pope, toppled over some hell gates and Nero was hot on my heels trying to stop me.” This causes Vergil to raise his head. Drawing attention away from Donatella has cleared up the redness around his eyes and it helps Dante relax a bit more. “Your boy didn’t even say hi the first time we met. The moment he saw me, he drop kicked me onto the podium!” This brings a smile to Vergil’s face and motivates Dante to continue with his story.

“Less than half my age and with his arm in a cast for half of the fight, Nero and I completely wrecked the place just trying to land a solid hit on each other. I’ll be one hundred percent honest, I was in one hell of a rut back then, but seeing your boy match my every taunt and then some put a smile on my face that refused to go away for the rest of the day.” A smile very similar to the one Vergil’s wearing now. Dante has no idea how to read this guy. Talking about Nero usually shut him down and eroded at his normal calm disposition, but now he can’t get enough of hearing about him. His smile does sadly wear away, but it doesn’t fall back into sadness. Instead, Vergil falls into an expression of deep thought and confusion.

“How did he get Yamato?”

“Found it in the Order's possession.” Dante explains. “How they managed to get their hands on it, I got no clue. But man, when Nero got his hands on it, it actually scared me how much he’s like you. He refused to let it go, said he needed it, needed its power to make things right. I let him hold onto it, I never thought I’d get you back so it felt like he inherited it from you. Besides, the sword seemed to love the idea of sticking with him.”

“And then I came along.” Vergil mused, falling back into that sullen frown. “I made him feel as helpless and powerless as I was without it. I became the one thing I feared throughout the years, a devil that would strike me down when I let my guard down, when I had something to lose.” Vergil looks down at the sword resting on his lap. “I tore Mundus’ armor off despite the power it gave me because I wasn’t willing to stoop so low, to give up my dignity as a son of Sparda. But the moment I sensed Yamato nearby, I didn’t care anymore. I marched into my own son's home, a home he built because he thought he had the strength to protect it, and I stole it all away from him.” Vergil stares down at the blade, pulling it from its sheath to stare at his reflection.

“If you’re waiting for me to say all is forgiven, I’m the wrong guy to ask.” Dante says as a tense silence fills the air. “I finally got you back, and the fact that you came down here with me is proof enough that you’re willing to change. But hey, I’m the idiot who doesn’t know any better.” Vergil lets out an aggravated grumble, but Dante continues. “Nero is a good kid, but he isn’t going to be as forgiving as I am. This is something that only you two can work out. Maybe I’m being optimistic, but V was living proof that there is good, honest, selfless good in you deep down and I know Nero saw it too.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to keep fighting until that time comes.” Vergil sighs as he pushes himself up to his feet, letting Yamato fall back to his hip.

“When the time comes?” Dante asks as he rises to meet his brother. “Can’t you just cut open a portal at any time?”

“I could.” Vergil shrugs, “And we’d leave a tear between the human and demon world for anything to crawl out behind us. I’m guessing no one wants me to be responsible for yet another demon invasion.”

“Damn…” Dante pouts. “I was hoping that we could just quick hop up and get some ice cream or something if you weren’t willing to leave hell for good just yet.” Dante starts to pace around dejectedly as Vergil boggles at him as if he’d just spoken another language.

“You wanted to rip a hole through space so you could get _ice cream?!”_

“I’m starving!” Dante whines. “I don’t even remember the last time I had a strawberry sundae!”

“Demon blood sates us just fine! Why waste time gorging yourself with food you don’t need?” Vergil retorts, causing Dante to let out a horrified gasp.

“No wonder you’re such a grouchy bastard! Are you telling me you never bothered eating _real food?!”_ Vergil falls silent and defensive again. He has eaten recently, but only as V when it became a necessity he never had to care for before. Starvation and the desperate actions he took to stave it off was something he never wanted to experience again and he feels like he might have scared himself out of eating anything ever again. “Come on, there’s got to be something that you still eat! Pizza?”

“I was never a fan of the disgusting pile of grease and cheese you insisted we had every weekend.” Dante began clenching his fists, feeling the demon within him wanting to burst out and tear into Vergil for saying something so cruel and heartless, but he’s trying to be the bigger man here.

“How about an old fashioned American cheeseburger?” Dante pleads, desperate to find something that Vergil likes. Vergil doesn’t respond to the question, which Dante has since learned means he’s refusing to admit he hasn’t. Dante runs his hands through his hair, wracking his brain to find something Vergil might like when a memory comes crashing through. **“Chocolate!”** He blurts out. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t kill for a piece of chocolate?”

Something shifts in Vergil’s expression and Dante pumps his fists in victory.

“I haven’t had chocolate in decades.” Vergil comments and Dante can’t help but feel that’s the saddest thing he’s ever heard. Nobody, not even Vergil should go so long without chocolate.

“Tell you what Vergil.” Dante closes the distance between them and plants a hand on his shoulder. “Whenever we manage to make it back to the human world, I’m dragging you straight to my favorite diner and I’ll buy you so many chocolate sundaes you’ll explode!” Vergil lets out a restrained chuckle and Dante beams with pride. Getting Vergil to emote past scowling at you was an achievement of its own, but making him laugh was a feat and a half. Of course, these bursts of emotion never lasted. Vergil returns his attention to his surroundings and his smile slowly dies out to his regular frown.

“It’s been far too quiet.” He states, pulling away from Dante and letting a hand fall to Yamato. “I don’t like it.” Dante looks around and can’t help but share Vergil’s unease. It’s been too long since something’s tried to kill them. That should be a good sign, right?

“Maybe they’ve finally wizened up and decided to leave us alone?” Vergil chuckles to himself after hearing Dante’s overly optimistic suggestion.

“You’re giving these demons too much credit, Dante.” Vergil comments dismissively. “It would take the collective brain power of over a hundred demons to conjure up a unique thought, I doubt they’ve learned their place.”

“Then what about that one?” Vergil’s head swivels around to look towards where Dante is pointing and is unsure of what he’s seeing. A small, disgusting, infested insect of a demon charges for them at a pitiful pace across the hell plains. With no other demons in sight, Vergil dashes towards the disgusting creature and clamps a hand around its neck before it even realizes Vergil moved. The creature squirms in his grip as Dante rushes to catch up with him, when the insect speaks.

“L-lord Sp-Sparda!” That was not something Vergil was expecting to hear, but it was a welcome surprise. It was about time these pitiful creatures treated him like the king he was. Vergil releases his thumb from the creature's throat, easing the tension he was putting on its neck but still holding it in the air. “I bring urgent news my lord!”

“What’s going on now?” Dante questions as he finally reaches the two. “This some friend of yours from your Urizen days?”

“No.” Vergil says as he drops the demon to the floor. “Though any demon who refers to me as Lord Sparda gets to say their part. Out with it!”

“My name is Magnus, sire.” The creature utters as it moves to bow towards the two brothers. “I came to see if you and the Duke were aware of the upcoming invasion?”

“Invasion?”  
“Duke?”

The brothers pause to look at each other, and Vergil breaks the silence.

“Seems that the demons have placed you one step below me on the hierarchy.” Vergil explains with a dumb smug grin plastered on his face. “I’d honestly place you as the court jester, but that can still be arranged later.”

“Oh you’re really eating this whole lord thing up, aren’t you.” Dante jeers. “You going to start talking in the third person so you can keep hearing your title?”

“Don’t give Vergil the demon king any idea’s now.” Vergil retorts, ready to keep teasing his brother but he’s reminded of the other topic the messenger spoke of when Magnus clears his throat at his feet. “Right, the invasion. Is that where the rest of the demons are gathering?”

“Yes my lord.” Mangus nods. “An invasion of the human world led by a general long thought dead. I was told not to bother the lord with details, but I felt that as a mere general, he had no say in whether or not you heard about it.”

“A smart move.” Vergil says. “You’ve clearly got more brains than most of the demons I’ve faced.”

“Thank you lord!” Magnus grovels at Vergil’s feet, leaving a trail of blood, mucus, and ichor along the floor. Vergil quickly steps back as the demon makes an attempt at kissing his boots.

“I’d like to meet this general myself.” Vergil orders. “Making tactical decisions without my explicit say so is something that can’t go unpunished. Lead me to him.” With new orders received, Magnus pushes off the ground and begins rushing back the way he came, looking back occasionally to see if the brothers are following. Vergil and Dante begin moving at a brisk pace to keep up with the disease ridden messenger.

“You know this is one hundred percent a trap, right?” Dante whispers towards his brother, who just shakes his head in annoyance.

“If you believe this thing is leading us towards an actual threat, I’m disappointed in you.” Vergil mutters back, not caring to lower his voice. “It’ll be a nice change of pace fighting demons who have the actual sense to plan out a course of attack.” Vergil’s assurances that this wouldn’t be a problem eases Dante’s mind somewhat. As fun as it was to smear the lesser demons around, the few who could actually speak were the ones that brought a challenge with them. It was also too much fun to toy with them and watch them devolve into raving lunatics as their plans fail. The only thing that still worries Dante is how confident this general seems. He’s embarrassed plenty of over confident wannabe usurpers, but surely this one knows the reputation he and Vergil hold now. Something that crazy won’t be a cakewalk to take down.


	2. The Big Gig

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say before you get started, Thank you so much for reading this little passion project of mine. It still baffles me how so many of you are still finding this and leaving your support, keep those kudo's coming!
> 
> Also, anyone else hyped for DMC5 Special Edition?

Most of his clients probably wouldn’t believe Nero if he told them he could move with the silence and grace of a ghost. How could you call anything he did quiet and graceful? Screaming profanities and lugging around a sword that sounded like a motorcycle ripping through the streets at all times, he was the opposite of quiet, except for when it mattered.

No demon could put up as much of a fight as Kyle could when it was bedtime.

Nothing could keep him down or convince him to go to bed. Bribes of sweets, tiring him out with a game of tag, Nero himself fell asleep faster than Kyle did when Kyrie tried to sing a lullaby for him. He’s gone through this multiple times and has yet to find a way to actually convince him to go to sleep, but every time he somehow manages to get him to stay in bed.

Nero stayed in his room to make absolutely sure he was sound asleep before he dared leave to help Kyrie clean up dinner. He’s made that mistake one too many times and found Kyle digging through the pantry two hours after everyone else had fallen asleep. It was a test of patience, but when Kyle was finally asleep, he now had the difficult task of leaving without waking him back up.

It was a painstakingly slow process. Slowly raising each foot and planting it flat on the carpet, shifting his weight and praying nothing creaks underneath him, and turning the doorknob as slowly as possible to make sure it doesn’t squeak. Nero manages to successfully slip out of the room and moves to slowly shut the door behind him…

When the phone rings in the living room.

Desperate to silence the noise before it woke Kyle, Nero tries to snatch the phone off of its base by throwing one of his demonic arms down the hall into the living room. He successfully manages to grab the phone, but instinct kicks in and he pulls it towards him, pulling the line between the receiver and the base taught and nearly pulling the landline right out of the wall. He knocks a couple of things off of the end table in the process, which causes them to crash to the floor. Scared of what he might see, Nero slowly turns to peek inside Kyle’s room and finds he hasn’t stirred at all.

The grace and silence of a ghost.

“What was that?!” Nero quickly shuts the door to Kyle’s room and makes it partway down the hall before he responds.

“I’ll clean it up Kyrie, don’t worry.” Nero responds just loud enough for her to hear him from the kitchen as he grabs hold of the base and returns it to its original position. He finally places the phone against his ear as he starts replacing the picture frames he knocked over. “Devil May Cry!”

“Kept me waiting there, huh kid.” All it took was for him to say one word for Nero to recognize the baritone voice of the broker.

“Morrison?” Business calls were thankfully sparse recently, but in the past year since the qliphoth incident he’s never actually gotten a call from Morrison other than one where he informed him he’s the new owner of the Devil May Cry business. If he’s calling now, it’s got to be important. “What’s going on? Get any word on Dante?”

“Nope.” Morrison says before taking a drag from a cigarette. “Not a peep for over a year. Listen, are you free tonight?”

“Free?” Nero repeats, already seeing where this is going. “Um, yeah I guess. I just got the kids to bed, why?”

“I got a job for you.” Nero has to bite down on his tongue to keep him from screeching in victory. It’s about damn time he’s got a job straight from Morrison. “I want to go over the details over drinks. Come on down to The Third Rail bar on Fortuna’s main street.”

“Hey wait!” Nero sputters out before Morrison could hang up. “How long do you think I’ll be away from home? Kyrie hates it when I run off for too long without telling her when I’ll be back.”

“Well, good news is you won’t be going anywhere.” Morrison is quick to assure him. “This is a _local_ problem.” That… that doesn’t... That sounds like horrible news. “Get down here as soon as you can. We’ll go through the details there.” The line goes dead and Nero places the phone down. Nero places his hands on each end of the table to try and support himself as his mind starts forming a portfolio of worst case scenario’s. Morrison wouldn’t call him if this was a small group of demons crawling around the countryside, this was something big.

This could be the Savior all over again.

“Who was it?” Nero pries his eyes away from the phone up to Kyrie watching him from the kitchen. Without another word spoken between them, Kyrie stops what she’s doing to cross into the living room and grab his hand. That was something he loved with all his heart, Kyrie’s ability to just know when something was wrong and know the easiest way to fix it. Feeling her firm yet light grip in his own helped him calm down enough to find the words he needed, especially when her fingers rested on his ring.

“Morrison.” Nero manages to speak up after staring at the matching ring on Kyrie’s own hand. “He’s finally got a big job for me.”

“Oh Nero that’s great news!” Nero wasn’t ready for the kiss Kyrie rushes in for, but he’s grateful for it just like everything else about Kyrie. For just a moment, he wanted to believe that this _was_ great news, but reality came crashing back in once the euphoria died down and Kyrie pulled away. “How long will you be out?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t think I’m going anywhere.” Nero explains, rubbing his nose as Kyrie waits for him to elaborate. “I think something’s about to happen here in Fortuna.” The moment the words leave Nero’s mouth, Kyrie’s expression drops and he rushes to try and bring her smile back. “Hey! Don’t worry! That’s the whole reason Morrison is calling me, to keep this from happening. But just in case things do boil over, I want you to bring the kids into the back, as well as anyone else you can manage to bring inside before you lock up. We should still have plenty of food and water down there so you all should be perfectly safe until I clean things up. Only open the door for either me or Nico, anything else might be something bad trying to get inside. And don’t forget to-”

“Nero!” Kyrie presses a hand against Nero’s mouth. “I’ll be fine here. I’m the one who should be worrying about you.” Kyrie pulls her hand away and rests it over his. “You’re the one who’s charging into these jobs every time and I’m always scared that you might not come back.”

“Hey, come on Kyrie. You don’t have to worry too much about me.”

“Then I don’t want you worrying over me either.” Kyrie insists. “The children are safe with me. All I ask is you come back home to them after this is over.” Kyrie leans in closer and wraps her arms around Nero. “Especially when we have another one on the way.”

He didn’t want to worry, this should just be another big job like before but knowing that it’s this close to the family he built up, he can’t help it. His job was already stressful enough without having to go home to take care of three kids, and soon a _baby._ He was scared. Devil hunting was something he was good at, something he knew how to do well. He was barely able to control the orphans, how was he going to take care of his own kid?

It’s not like he had anyone to fall back on for advice. Credo was the only person he could think of that would have the patience and maturity to actually get him through this but thinking about him only brought more worries in regards to keeping his family safe.

There was of course his…

No. He made this house a living nightmare for everyone in it. He wouldn’t even let him step foot in this house. Besides, what did he know about raising a kid. He abandoned Nero and forgot he existed for twenty five years.

“I’m going to go see Morrison.” Nero mutters, trying to drag himself back into the present. “I should be back before midnight. And… thank you for worrying for me.” Nero leans down for one more kiss before letting Kyrie go to head to the garage. Kyrie watches him go with an ache in her heart as he marches out the door.

He’s been so tense since he came home from Red Grave last year and no matter how hard she tries she’s never able to get him to fully unwind. He has every right to worry about her and the kids, but those worries have started eating away at him more and more. She knows he loves the idea of having a baby, but she knows he’s holding something back from her, and she has a good idea of what.

He’s scared that something like the intruder who stole his arm will happen again, and this time he’ll have more to lose.

\---

“Love shack! Baby love shack!” Nico slams the counter of her workstation along with the beat of the jukebox as she tries to weld together the last piece of her newest creation. Nero’s complained about the dozens of prototypes she’s dumped in his lap because they keep ‘blowing up in his face’ and ‘causes unnecessary damage to his surroundings’ but he wasn’t complaining when she gave him a big ass robot claw hand now did he! Nico can’t wait to see the look on his face when he finally tries this out.

“Bang bang bang, on the door baby! Bang bang bang, on the do-” Nico’s work is rudely interrupted as the door to the van is yanked open and slammed shut behind Nero as he stomps over to the couch. Something’s set him off. “Who pissed in your cheerios?” Nico asks as she quickly throws a rag over her newest creation before Nero gets a chance to see it. “You having daddy issues again or ar-”

“We got the big gig we’ve been waiting for.” Nero explains between deep breaths. “Morrison is waiting for us at a bar called The Third Rail.”

“Then why do you look so pissed? That’s great news!” Nico says as she passes Nero by to crawl into the driver's seat.

“Because something’s about to break out right here in Fortuna.” That causes Nico to pause for a moment as the seriousness of that statement sets in. Nero lets out a frustrated sigh as he moves to sit down in the passenger seat. “Morrison wouldn’t have called me unless it was something bad.”

“You’re worried about everyone in town, aren’t ya.” Nico asks, dropping the wisecracks she was saving up for now. This was a rut she wouldn’t be able to tease Nero out of. “The Third Rail you said?” Nero nods before turning his head to look out the window like a sad puppy. God, she hated when he was this bummed out. All her usual methods of making him crack a smile wouldn’t work anymore until he managed to dig himself out of this. “At least you won’t have to leave Kyrie for too long.” Nico tries to assure him, praying that it cheers him up at least somewhat.

“I wander thro’ each charter’d street,” Nero starts mumbling to himself. “Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.” The van falls into a silence save for the last few seconds of the B-52’s fading out in the background.

“huh?!” Nico eventually breaks the silence. “Was V’s nonsense contagious or something?” Nero choffs at that, so she’ll consider that a win.

“No, I was just…” Nero fumbles around in his jacket before pulling out V’s book. “I’ve been reading a few of these while trying to put the kids to bed.”

“Is that the trick to it? Boring them to death?” Nero can’t help but chuckle at that. He’s tried to read some of the cheerier sounding ones, but all of this stuff goes right over the poor kids heads. Hell, most of it goes over _his_ head, but a couple of them are starting to make more sense as he reread them more and more. “Hell, I think I used to hear him read that exact sentence while you were off inside the qliphoth.”

“Of course he did.” Nero huffs.

“I mean, it makes sense doesn’t it?” Nico muses. “He was your dad right? Or, half dad anyways.” Nero is about to tell her to drop it when she starts up on a new tangent. “So does that mean that Urizen was just as much your dad as V was? Because I barely saw any of you in V, so were all the recognizable traits in Urizen? Was it an even split? I wonder what a split Dante would look like. If we were to cut Dante in half, would we get some wimpy party animal and a giant city destroying devil or would both ha-”

“Can we stop talking about him right now?” Nero pleads and Nico lets out a huff.

“Fine, we’ll talk about your two dads when you aren’t sulking.”

“I’m not sulking!”

“You’re staring out the window looking like your dog just died! What would you call that?”

“I’m thinking!”

“About your two dads?”

“Can you shut up and just focus on driving?!”

“No I can’t! Not when you look like you’re about to start singing evanescence on me!” Nico continues to argue as she reaches into her back pocket for a smoke. It was a bitch and a half to get Nero smiling again after he fell into one of his bad moods. Kyrie, bless her heart, was the only person in the world who could turn whatever emotion Nero was feeling into pure joy. Nico on the other hand had a tendency to do the exact opposite.

She was really good at making him mad.

Not like mad mad, but just irritated enough that whatever’s bothering him is pushed to the back burner as he tries to deal with her. It wasn’t fair that everyone else in her life was this larger than life hero, but she’s proud of this one little super power of hers, that and her gadgets. The drive to the bar would only take a few minutes, but it’s gonna feel like hours for Nero and by that time he’ll have forgotten all his worries.

\---

The Third Rail was a quiet spot tucked away in between its much bigger competitors. It was an easy spot to miss, no flashy signs, no loud music beckoning you in. It’s probably why Morrison chose this place, it was quiet and out of the way. Perfect for a quick business meeting.

Opening the door, Nero was struck with the same scent that plagued him in the van; cigarette smoke. Clearly this place didn’t care about people smoking in their establishment, that or they weren’t going to tell Morrison to stop. Whatever the reason, Nico takes it as an excuse to smoke in here too and lights one for herself. Nero has no choice but to hold his breath as he walks over and sits down at one of the booths in front of Morrison who’s waiting for him with two drinks.

“It’s on the house since this is our first actual meeting.” Morrison says as he slides the glass towards Nero.

“Sorry, I don’t drink.” Nero declines. Hearing this, Nico sits down next to him and grabs the drink for herself.

“Then you get to drive us home.” Morrison lets out a choked laugh as Nico takes a swig from Nero’s glass. Nero tries not to suffocate under the smoke surrounding their table.

“Can we just get the details for the job?” He pleads, trying to find a decent direction to look in to take a fresh breath.

“Quick and to the point. I like that.” Morrison nods. “Then that’s what you’re gonna get. There’s been an upsurge in demon activity surrounding various hotspots within and nearby Fortuna. Much bigger than the few packs of stragglers you’ve picked off throughout the year.”

“What makes this such a big deal then?” Nero asks, trying to prepare himself for whatever’s coming next.

“The problem is where they’re gathering and who they’re gathering with.” Morrison explains. “Creeps in dark robes walk into these hotspots every day and leave unscathed. Humans on good terms with demons is never a good sign, especially since they’re all hanging around the ruins of the hell gates Dante destroyed six years ago.” Hearing that along with the constant smoke makes Nero feel sick. His worst fears were right.

“This is the Savior all over again, isn’t it?”

“Afraid it looks that way.” Morrison nods solemnly, taking a sip from his drink. “But that’s why I called you here, to help you prepare ahead of time and potentially stop this before it even gets a chance to happen.”

“What about the other girls?” Nero asks. “Lady and Trish?”

“They’re both still busy in Red Grave.” Morrison responds. “In case you haven’t been keeping up to date, Red Grave is still a literal hell hole. They’re always busy, but they’ll arrive once they have the time.” So this is going to be Nero’s first big job alone? He isn’t sure if he should be proud or terrified.

“What’s this about stopping this demon stuff before it even happens?” Nero asks, desperate to find an easy solution to this mess.

“Well I don’t know.” Morrison shrugs. “All I know is there’s demons hanging out with humans in very specific spots. If those demons are leaving the people alone, that means one of two things.” Morrison holds on his finger. “One, these people are dangerous and have earned the fear and respect of the demons, or two; a demon higher up on the food chain is plotting something and keeping them in line.” Nero didn’t like the sound of either of those things.

“Their plan could break out five minutes from now or take a year of prep, we don’t know anything right now. Which is where you come in.” Morrison says, putting out his cigarette and letting Nero breathe easier. “A few demons and creeps in cloaks don’t scare you. Best case scenario, I save on buying the lady’s plane tickets and Fortuna goes about its business without ever knowing what happened.”

“And what if I can’t?” Nero asks. “What if another apocalypse breaks out right here in Fortuna?”

“Then we’ll have a lot more work ahead of us.” Nero takes a deep breath to try and ground himself, realizing only after he takes a couple breaths that Nico’s put out her smoke too.

“Fortuna’s already gone to hell and back, I don’t think they’ll be as helpless as Red Grave was.” Nico tries to assure him before turning towards Morrison. “Are there any plans for evacuating people if things do go to hell? There were news reporters and idiots swarming the qliphoth when it first sprouted, we gotta get these folks clear of any danger.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t have _that_ much power.” Morrison shakes his head. “I’ve already paid people off to try and scare away any dumb hikers wandering into these places but I can’t force the entire city to leave. We’re doing everything we can to minimize the damage but we aren’t going to be able to save everybody. Harsh truth about the job, and one that bothered Dante more and more as these outbreaks kept happening.”

Hearing that Dante shared the same grief for the people they couldn’t save both soothes and pisses him off. This was something that ate away at him for years, and now that it’s happening again in his hometown, it’s starting to boil over. Hearing these words come from Dante himself would have helped alleviate years of stress, but of course he kept that all to himself. Not only that, but he left him alone to shoulder this burden all by himself. Who would have guessed that someone so loud and in your face could have so many secrets…

Why did he have to hide so much from him?

“You two try and get some rest while things are quiet.” Morrison orders as he stands up and finishes his drink. “I’ll be keeping an eye around the hell gates and keep you posted if something changes. You got this, kid.” Morrison pats Nero on the shoulder before heading out the door, leaving him to fester in his own thoughts while Nico tries to think of a way to convince him to get in the van. Nico grabs hold of Nero and starts dragging him away from the table when she finally realizes there’s one thing sitting in the back of her van that might cheer him up some.

“Come on, trust me! When you see it, you’ll turn that frown upside down!” Nico assures as she drags Nero inside of the van and deposits him on the couch. The moment she opens the bar to her workshop, Nero groans.

“Please tell me it’s not another one of your ‘prototypes’.” Nico’s not going to stand for his complaints once he sees what she’s been cooking for the past couple weeks. Pulling the rag away and hoisting up her creation, she leaves the workshop and presents her masterpiece.

“Behold! The Tomboy Mk3!” Held out for Nero to examine is an unpainted, crudely welded devil breaker that’s clearly still not out of the design phase. Nero takes it from Nico and looks it over, bending the fingers and trying to figure out how this one works. He didn’t understand any of the black magic nonsense that went into the creation and inner workings of these things, but the giant tanks bolted to the forearm of the machine that are slightly hot to the touch worries him to no end.

“What happened to Mk2?”

“I think that was the one that singed off your eyebrows a couple months back.” Nico admits. “You know, the one that blew up.”

“Then Mk3’s gotta have some built in safety features that the other one didn’t have, right?” Nero almost doesn’t want to try the thing on, scared that the moment it clicked into his cuff the thing would combust.

“Look, nevermind all that.” Nico takes the arm from Nero, he clearly doesn’t appreciate a work of pure art when he sees one. “Each of these thanks are filled up with military grade accelerants and napalm! With these, your sword should be able to function as a flamethrower!”

_“You want me to strap tanks of napalm onto my arm?!”_ Nero squawks. “What is wrong with you?! Where the hell did you even get this stuff?!”

“Hold on, I didn’t even get to the best part!” Nico shushes him and presses a button on the arm. A small compartment snaps out of the arm and lets out a beep, causing Nero to flinch as Nico handles what she’s all but confirmed is a bomb. “Just like the Tomboy Mk1, you can lock your gun into this port here! Not only will you be firing the same bruning accelerant that’s igniting your sword, but this baby actively loads your revolver with custom built uranium rounds that are stored in this compartment here!”

_**“Uranium rounds?!”**_ Nero carefully but firmly pushes Nico and her doomsday device back into her workshop. “Nico there are kids at home!”

“And they were there when I was making more of the devil arms you _do_ like, like the first Tomboy!” Nico retorts. “We’ve kept the garage locked up all that time with plenty of other dangerous toys and they’re all still fine, one more won’t hurt.” Nero slumps back onto the couch knowing that this wasn’t a fight he was going to win. Nico’s hit him with that same trump card over and over. “Look, we got a big job coming up. You might need the extra firepower!” Nico gives the breaker a little shake before setting it down on the counter way too carelessly for Nero’s liking.

“Fine.” Nero sighs.

“Fine what?” Nico leans forward, waiting for him to admit defeat.

“I’ll test it out.” Nico lets out a fit of whoops and cheers before Nero gets to continue. “But I’m going to save it.”

“Save it for what?” Nico asks as she crashes onto the couch across from him.

“I’m going to save it for the asshole behind all of this.” Nero promises. “I’m going to hit them so hard that any demon following behind them will retreat at the sight of the smear they leave behind.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Nico agrees as Nero stands up to drive them back home. “Now can you put something on. I don’t want to hear you fill the silence with more of V’s gobbledygook.” Nero leans back and presses a button at random on the jukebox before crossing the length of the van and sitting down in the driver's seat. A heavy metal guitar riff drowns out any potential arguments over the safety concerns of strapping radioactive metals and napalm to his arm. Revving up the engine, Nero pulls out V’s book of poems again and flips open to a random page to try and sets it down in the passenger seat to read through later.

Was V as much of his father as Urizen was? It was hard to believe that someone like V had anything to do with the demon king and his father. He could live his whole life without knowing, but a small part of him wants to see if there was anything left of V hiding in Vergil. He had only seen him face to face for all of fifteen minutes, maybe under better circumstances he could have gotten to know him.

Or at the very least, pin him down and force him to explain himself for all the horrible things he did to his family and the people of Red Grave.


	3. The Red Carpet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell! I'm starting to sound a bit like a broken record, but... 500 hits?! Seriously, thank you all for your continued readership and support, it means so much!
> 
> I started writing this DMC fic to try something new after a huge Jojo project I was working on, but now this story is spiraling out of control and planting itself firmly in my brain. This series is a joy to write, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, especially when you guys show so much support for it.

“So…” Vergil takes a deep breath from his nose and braces himself as Dante breaks the pleasing silence they were left in to no doubt ask more stupid questions. “Did you have any actual plans after eating the fruit and becoming the all powerful king of hell?” Great, it was going to be one of _those_ questions. The ones where Dante rips into what remains of his pride and ego by pointing out every mistake he’s ever made. Maybe if he just doesn’t respond Dante will get bored and leave him alone.

“Oh yes master!” That hope shriveled up and died as soon as Magnus opened up his putrid mouth. “What nefarious schemes did you have planned for us when you claimed the prize at the top of the qliphoth?” There was no getting out of this he supposed, might as well get it over with as fast as possible.

“I had no plans past getting the apple.” Vergil admits, growing more frustrated as Dante follows up the question.

“Maybe _you_ didn’t have any plans, but what about Urizen?”

“We were the same person Dante!” Vergil snaps back, thankful to find something to pester him for and get him off his back. “Neither Urizen nor V had any plans past claiming the power we deserved, how many times have I told you this?!”

“I was just asking because Urizen did things I know you wouldn’t.” Dante replies, putting his hands up as he backs off a bit.

“Things that I wouldn’t do?” Vergil scoffs. “There you go again, being hopelessly optimistic. I wouldn’t need to cast aside my humanity to raise the qliphoth, I would have done it without a second thought before I separated.”

“Ah-ha!” Dante snaps and points at him. “You would have done it _before_ you separated! Now that you got to see your actions from both perspectives you know you wouldn’t do it again, wouldn’t you.” Vergil bites his tongue and returns his focus to the disgusting messenger leading them forward.

How was Dante piecing all of this together before he could even begin parsing through his feelings about the separation. It likely didn’t help that he had two completely separate conscience’s to sift through but Dante nailed it right on the head in one go. One month apart from his demonic power, V’s managed to leave a permanent impact on Vergil in his entirety, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. He didn’t like having such conflicting thoughts in his head or having to second guess his every action. Everything was so easy when he had just one goal:

Obtain power no matter the cost.

Now he couldn’t ever stop thinking about the cost.

“Whatever.” Dante shakes his head. “Besides, growing the qliphoth wasn’t the deed I was talking about.” Hearing this, Vergil begrudgingly turns back to look at Dante, giving him a second chance. “I was more talking about what you did to Lady and Trish.” Dante’s voice gains an edge to it as he says this and Vergil’s hand unconsciously reaches for the safety of Yamato.

“What about them?” Vergil tries to keep his voice neutral and to meet his brother's eyes with the same amount of scorn he always reserved for him, but seeing the look on Dante’s face makes him second guess himself. Dante was wearing a curious mix of pride and disappointment on his face.

“Just strikes me as odd how you despised Mundus for what he did to you but were more than willing to make others suffer the same way.” Vergil stops dead in his tracks as he reels from the impact to the gut that his accusation was but is forced to move and Dante catches up to him and pushes him forward to keep up with Magnus. How the hell did he do this?! How was he able to just find these weaknesses in his own head that not even he dared to disarm yet?

What irritates him even more is the fact that he is _absolutely livid_ over the enslavement of Lady and Trish. In this one moment, he realizes there is one tiny piece of his humanity that he fully accepts and vows to never let go of - His dignity and pride. Not only did Urizen rely on the help of demon scum he would never dare associate with now, he followed in the same footsteps as the devil who took everything from him.

Further proof that he was no better than Mundus.

Dante seemed quite proud of himself for finding these fresh wounds in his mind and rubbing salt into them, so why the hell doesn’t he offer to help him through these problems? He’s talked over and over about returning to the surface and meeting up with Nero again but how could he possibly expect them to get along. Maybe he expects that he’ll be able to sort through these problems himself, battle his inner demons with the same strength and resolve as the very real demons in front of him…

But he can’t fight them alone. He doesn’t want to fight them alone.

Over twenty five years of his life have been wasted after Temen Ni Gru, twenty five years of being powerless down here in hell. He has the strength to hold his own now, but what would have been a mad dash back to the human world for relative safety has now turned into a strange bonding experience with his brother Dante, a brother who he knows practically nothing about. From what little he’s managed to glean off of him, Dante has his own fair share of inner demons he’s tried to smother, so why can’t he help him fight his own?

Maybe he’s just waiting for him to ask, waiting for him to humiliate himself and show him he’s serious about making a change. Vergil can’t help but feel that every conversation he’s shared with Dante has been a test of some sort, a trial he has to pass before he allows him to return home. Dante is one cruel devil if he’s going to hold the lifeline just out of reach until he says please.

Though Vergil suspects that he deserves every bit of that cruelty.

“Dante.” Vergil looks up to find he’s fallen behind in the group somewhat. Dante turns around and walks backwards to keep pace with Magnus while he listens to him. Was that hope in Dante’s eyes? Vergil tries to form the sentence he wants to speak in his mind, struggling to actually spit it out. As much as he was praising his pride as one of his human traits he actually cherished, it made it difficult to actually do something as pathetic as ask Dante to play shrink. But this was just another game of his, one he didn’t plan on losing. “I’ve actually learned a lot more than I would have liked when I-”

“We’re here!” Magnus cries out in a fit of stomach churning gurgles and Vergil regrets letting this insect live in his presence for more than a second. “Just over the hill should be the meeting place for the upcoming invasion.”

“About damn time!” Dante whistles, spinning on his heels and turning his back on Vergil to investigate. “Felt like days of walking, extra brain points for this general guy gathering his army so far away from us. Now, what are we dealing with.” Vergil fumes in silence as Dante and the disgusting messenger begin climbing a steep hill that is supposedly the last obstacle before they find this army. Vergil draws Yamato from its sheath, feeling the power of the blade burn up his arm. He intends to finish this as soon as possible so nothing remains to distract him, and his first target is going to be this loathsome bug that’s been pestering them relentlessly. Dante is the first to make it to the top of the hill, but rather than wait for him at the top, Dante actually _retreats_ back down the hill with a look of awe on his face.

“Wow!” Dante exclaims breathlessly as he sits down just below the crest of the hill. “I did not see that coming!” Seeing him act like that made Vergil equal parts curious and anxious. This fool was the same person who fought against demons ten times his size right? Some demonic army shouldn’t scare him. Vergil scoffs at his brother as he makes the climb, blade still in hand but clenched tighter than he would normally. The moment his head passes the peak of the hill, his pulse triples as he takes in the sight that startled the fearless demon hunter..

This was very, very bad.

Vergil couldn’t even begin to count how many demons were gathered in the plains not far from the hill they were hiding behind. Soul Eaters, Marrionetes, Basilisk's and an entire army of Angelo’s (The Angelo’s were just more proof that Urizen didn’t have a shred of dignity in his body). The field was filled all the way to the horizon with such a magnitude and variety of demons that Vergil’s mind went momentarily blank.

Was he powerful enough to take them all on?

Vergil falls to his knees and slides backwards down the hill until he rests by Dante’s side. “Ok, it’s not just me then.” Dante huffs as he runs his fingers through his long and messy hair. “This is _really_ bad.” How could this be?! After everything Vergil sacrificed, after all the pain and suffering, he still wasn’t powerful enough. Vergil could easily take on any one of the demons in that army, no doubt he could slay the general leading them with his eyes closed, but against so many…

“What do we do?” Dante asks him as if he would have any answer. Vergil’s still trying to calculate his odds of winning a fight like this when he realizes the festering sack of disease known as Magnus is nowhere to be found. Scrambling up the hill, Vergil peaks over the crest to find the demon scuttling towards the massive army. They wouldn’t be able to hide back here forever, something would come over to investigate soon when the messenger announced their presence to the general.

“What are you asking me for?” Vergil mumbles dejectedly as he slides back down the hill. “I’m the fool who can’t plan ahead for the life of me.”

“I wouldn’t say you can’t make plans, at all. Just bad ones.” Dante sighs. They have to think of something quickly, that little bug will warn the others and that whole army will turn against them. Vergil’s about to crawl back up to take another peak when Dante snaps his fingers. “I got it!”

“We’ve been sitting here for five seconds, what do you mean you got it?” Vergil slides back down, deciding he’d better not stare at the unbeatable army of demons anymore. “Is your plan just run down there and hope for the best?”

“I guess you could put it that way…” Dante shrugs and Vergil lets his head fall into his hands. They’re gonna die here. “Plan is: We’re going to walk down there and act like we own the place!” Vergil slowly raises his head up to peek at Dante past his fingers. Was he serious?! “I don’t know anything about royalty or chain of command or any of that, but you’re the king! They gotta listen to you over some lousy general.”

“You’re suggesting that we not only go down there, but that we make our presence known and try to make peace with them?!”

“Yeah…” Vergil couldn’t actually believe what his brother was saying. How Dante could go from playing mind games with him to suggesting something so ridiculous is beyond him. But maybe that's it. This plan is so outrageously stupid it just might fool the demons long enough to let him get close to the general. Once their command is down the demons will be free to run to the hills or to begin clawing each other's throats out.

That’s been something that’s been bothering him this whole time. It wasn’t just the size of the army, but their restraint. Something’s keeping them in line and that’s something that he only barely managed to do as Urizen. This isn’t going to be as easy as he wished.

“Fine then.” Vergil submits, standing up and getting ready to crest the hill. “I suppose you’ve managed to make it this far off of your foolish plans, lets see if this one finally does us in.”

“That’s the spirit!” Dante cheers as he climbs up to meet Vergil. “Just go with the flow.”

“So.” Vergil starts as he crosses his arms. “Were you expecting me to just walk over and introduce myself?” Dante throws Vergil a sidelong glance as he asks this. “I am the king of the underworld, I need to make a good first impression.”

“I think I got you covered there.” Dante nods, pulling out that silly hat of his from his jacket. “We’re going in there in style!”

\---

Cavalier was _not_ meant to seat two people, and Dante’s driving didn’t help matters either. Dante’s plan of ramping off the hill and hitting the breaks just before they crashed into the army would be awe inspiring, but he forgot to take into consideration the fact that this was all being done to make _him_ seem intimidating. How he was supposed to do that while clinging onto Dante and the bike for dear life is unknown to him. When Cavalier slammed into the ground after taking off, Vergil felt the impact ripple up his body and it almost threw him off.

To survive this ride while retaining his image he had to manipulate the flow of time around him to make every hitch the bike made manageable. This method of smoothing out his ride also allowed him to casually lean off the bike and let his legs kick out from the side, giving him the appearance of nonchalance as the bike tore across the field. The demons saw them the moment the bike launched into the air from the hill and to Vergil’s surprise nothing broke rank. Dante charged straight towards the mass of demons but moments before he collides with them, he banks right, allowing Vergil to simply lean forward and walk off as he spun out behind him.

Vergil now stands face to face with the endless horde of demons. He stares them all down, trying to forge an intimidating speech in his mind to force them all to obey his command, but decides to remain quiet. While all of the demons have turned to face him, none have moved either because they’re stunned or scared to disobey orders.

Lets test their restraint then.

Vergil steps forward, folding his arms behind his back and acting as if he belonged in this mass of bloodthirsty demons. As he approaches, the demons on the border of the army seem to panic, sending glances to each other as he threatens to break their formation. Eventually, one of them breaks off from the rest of the group and charges forward - a Riot.

The Riot leaps out from deeper within the demon's ranks, head outstretched to take a bite out of Vergil. Vergil quickly draws for Yamato and unsheathes it just as the beast gets within clawing distance. With a twirl of his wrists, Yamato slashes at the air directly above him before he swiftly returns it back to its sheath. The Riot soars harmlessly over Vergil and rather than bouncing back after landing behind him, the demon crumples to the floor as its freshly decapitated head tumbles backwards towards Dante who’s just finished picking himself off of the floor from the ride here. Vergil returns his attention towards the army of demons once more, hand resting on Yamato rather than behind his back.

“Would anyone else like to volunteer to help sharpen their king's blade?” The demons remain still, not daring to be the next victim. When Vergil takes another step forward, a wicked grin creeps along his face as the demons actually step aside for him to enter their ranks. There was no ignoring it, he was going to have to give Dante credit for this amazing idea.

It was good to be king.

“Hey! What gives?” Throwing a glance backwards, Vergil finds that the demons have returned to their original positions behind him, blocking Dante out and keeping him from following behind. “I’m your duke! Is this really how you’re going to treat me?!” Dante’s not able to pull off the intimidating orders Vergil was able to, instead he just sounds like a whiny brat who’s been told it’s bedtime.

“Let him pass.” Vergil commands and after a moment's hesitation they obey. Dante is granted free passage and as the demons reform their rank behind him, he sticks his tongue out at the two who stopped him. Vergil really needs to stop trying to figure Dante out. How he’s able to display an equal amount of maturity and childishness is yet another enigma he’ll never unravel. “They may have labeled you as duke, but clearly your title holds no power over them.”

“I think this whole king thing might be going to your head.” Dante comments, still dusting off his unsalvageabley filthy jacket. “You probably wouldn’t think twice if they offered to feed you grapes.”

“We’re the sons of Sparda!” Vergil retorts. “A title like that demands fear and respect from such lowly creatures, and I find it refreshing that they’re now realizing that.”

“I’m still thinking that this is a trap and they’re just waiting for us to go farther in.” Dante mutters, staring down the demon who looks his way as he says this. “Are you seriously not worried about walking in the middle of all this?”

“Maybe your optimism is rubbing off on me,” Vergil muses. “But I quite like having things fear _me_ for once.”

“That was an impressive display of power Lord Sparda!” Vergil’s good mood dies the instant Magnus reintroduces himself and starts following them. If they weren’t in the middle of a sea of demons who no doubt are waiting for an excuse to strike, he’d stomp this loathsome bug into mush. But while he’s here…

“You’ve proven your loyalties to me thus far, so I have one last order for you.” Vergil states, leaning down as close as he dares to the disgusting demon. “Take me to the general who dared to hide this army from me.”

“Of course my lord!” The demon bows and turns to begin marching in the direction of the general. Perhaps he’s being a bit harsh. He finds every aspect of this creature repulsive, but he seems eager to please. Having a demon with a functioning brain working under him may be an asset he can’t afford to waste.

He will allow the bug to live… for now.

\---

As hours dragged by, Dante couldn’t help but feel paranoid. There was seemingly no end to the demons that surrounded him and he’s sure that there are more demons sitting in this field than demons he’s slain over the course of thirty-five years. It’s not just the thought of having to defend himself against such a horde, but who could be leading them. Vergil doesn’t seem bothered by the demons at all, but the deepening frown on his face tells him that he’s just as worried about the leader.

Mundus couldn’t gather this many demons into his army, This many demons didn’t jump at the chance to escape hell in Red Grave and Fortuna. What the hell could sway all the demons now?

Vergil enjoys his role as demon king way too much. He can’t believe he’s saying this, but all that power is going straight to his head. With all the things he did for power, he would have thought he’d see this sooner, but Vergil never had enough. He was never comfortable enough to revel in the power he fought so hard to obtain, but watching some demons stand aside because he told him to sent him on a trip. If he doesn’t reel it in soon, he’s going to get far too comfortable down here and Dante’s seen enough thick skulled demons who’ve tried to overthrow their kings.

Aw, to hell with it, let the man have some fun. He’s been through enough as is and there’s bigger problems on the horizon. He hates the ambiance around him which consists of gurgles and growls from the various demons who continue to part for him and his brother. He wants to continue asking Vergil a few more questions but no doubt he’d scold him for ruining his image among the demons for talking to someone with no social standing among the ranks or something equally egotistical like that.

He’s about to say screw it and call Vergil’s name, but his brother stops dead in his tracks only a few steps ahead of him. He seems completely stunned and the stoic façade he always wore nearly dropped completely, revealing an emotion he rarely showed on his face - fear.

“Um… Vergil?” Dante slowly approaches Vergil from behind, weary of whatever’s got him spooked. “You holding up alri-!” The air is knocked out of Dante as he runs face first into what felt like a wall of radiating power coming from the general up ahead. It was strong, stupid strong. The energy coming off of it feels like a constant gust of wind pushing against him. That was nothing new though, while this demon may be the strongest one he’s ever faced, he’s confident that he could take them on. He’s gone against so many big baddies that one more wouldn’t scare him. What does worry him and most likely what’s got Vergil in a rut is how… _familiar_ the energy feels.

Who the hell does he know that has this much power?

“We’re almost there my lord!” Magnus announces to Vergil, as if anyone could ignore the presence of the general. It does get Vergil moving again though, but before he takes a step forward, he reaches for Yamato and holds it close, more than close - he’s practically clutching his sword to his chest as if he was afraid someone was going to take it from him. Was this general some sort of mutual acquaintance of theirs?

Dante keeps his mouth shut, focusing instead on building up his own strength as he follows behind Vergil. They gotta think up a plan here, find some way to pull this general away from the army so they can focus him down. Vergil’s got some say in what the demons do, maybe he could command them to step aside while they take on the general two on one? He’d have to brainstorm with Vergil, but he seems to be having some sort of episode right now and he’s not sure if making assault plans with him will calm him down any.

Dante keeps marching on, feeling the power of the general threaten to overpower him, when every single demon in the army takes one step forward.

“MARCH!” Dante and Vergil both freeze as various Angelo’s scattered amongst the ranks begin issuing orders. The tide of demons that they were wading through begin marching against them, moving towards a destination that is so far into the horizon they have no chance of identifying it. Where the hell were they going?! Was the invasion already starting?! Shit shit shit! Ok, gotta think of something, uh…

“Vergil!” Dante rushes ahead to meet back up with his brother and tries to shake him out of whatever stupor he’s in. Vergil flinches at his touch, but once he’s confirmed it’s just his brother, he’s free to listen. “Vergil, we’re going to find this general guy, challenge him to a duel, then when we’re done you’re going to order these demons to stop whatever’s going on, got it?” Vergil doesn’t argue, so with a hand on his back, Dante pushes forward, pulling Vergil along as they charge after the strangely familiar energy that threatens to overpower them with each step forward.

As Dante continues to push through the moving crowd, Vergil actually starts resisting his pull and starts fighting back. “Vergil, what the hell’s gotten into you? We can’t afford to let this invasion go through in full force!” Vergil keeps trying to push him back, to stop all forward progression and all the while he never drops the panicked look in his eyes. Dante can’t help but feel his own worry skyrocket seeing his brother like this. He knows who’s coming up, and he’s terrified of him. But who?! Dante keeps dragging Vergil along, refusing to let him get lost in the marching armies of demons.

He’s got no reason to be afraid, together, they should be unstoppable!

But all of Dante’s confidence and bravado dies the moment he finally spots the general.

He wasn’t all that big, maybe half the size of Urizen, but three times more intimidating. He looked worn and haggard, and the smell of rot emanating from him twisted Dante’s guts into knots. In his hands was a large sword crudely forged with demonic metals, a far cry from the sword that bears his name. Though he looks so different now than he did in Dante’s childhood memories, he couldn’t mistake his face, a face that was plastered on every church wall in Fortuna.

“Dad?!”

Hunched over and limping along with the army is the legendary dark knight Sparda. Dante’s brain shorts out as he tries to process his presence here. Was he the general, or was their father just another soldier in this army? If he’s alive, where has he been all these years? Why did he look so…

Dante quickly gathers his senses again as he realizes that his father was the source of the energy, but the energy is not his. It’s been over thirty five years since he’s seen his father, let alone in his demon form, but this energy felt wrong.

“Vergil!” Dante turns around and grabs his brother by the shoulders, trying to shake some sense into him. “That’s not dad! This is just some other asshat that’s tried to take his power for himself! This is just another Arkham. You can fight this!” Vergil doesn’t snap out of it, the look of fear in his eyes refuses to waver. He eventually does draw Yamato when Dante turns and starts calling out the general himself.

“Hey Jackass!” Vergil actually gasps behind him as the general turns to face them. Seeing his father's face look so tired and angry sent shivers down Dante’s spine, but he wasn’t going to let this creep scare him. “You may have fooled everybody else, but I know you’re not who you claim to be!”

“Dante wait!”

“Pretty disrespectful to drag our father’s name through the mud, you scared everyone will laugh at you if you take that mask off?” Dante summons his sword to his hand and raises it to point at the imposter. “Show your true form and I’ll let you pick out ten soldiers of choice to die with you!”

“Oh… it’s you…” Another bout of shivers as Dante hears his father’s voice again. How many times has he dreamed of hearing him say a proper goodbye, dreamed of him saying he was proud of what he did. Having those dreams get stomped by hearing this faker made his blood boil. The fake Sparda turns to face him and takes a step forward, nearly tripping on the swarms of demons still marching beneath him. He wobbles on his feet as if he were struggling to walk, and after only two or three more steps forward, he speaks up again. “And isn’t this a surprise… my dark knight has returned as well… poisoning his body once more after I gave him such an amazing gift”

“I am not your slave!” Dante startles as Vergil breaks his bout of fearful silence with a hiss. “I will not let you wear my father's flesh when you stand opposed to everything he stood for!” Dante notices that many of the demons around them have stopped to witness whatever’s happening here. Among them, he notices many Angelo soldiers cutting across the formations, making a beeline for Vergil. “I WON’T REST UNTIL YOU SUFFER AS I DID!”

With an explosion of energy, Vergil releases his devil trigger in full force. Dante’s still only just wrapping his head around the situation when his brother launches himself at the fake father and slashes through his abdomen within the blink of an eye. To Dante’s horror, something begins spilling out of the fresh wound and begins pulling itself together. A disgusting bloody mass of flesh and limbs grabbing at the separated edges of Sparda’s side and sealing it back up.

Oh you gotta be kidding! All the pieces start to click in his mind now. He knows who’s hiding behind his father’s mask, it’s hard to believe he’s still here after what went down on Mallet Island.

Squirming around in Sparda’s corpse is the fallen demon king Mundus, revealing himself as the parasite he truly is. No wonder all of these demons are listening to him, if they believe he’s Sparda resurrected, they’d have no choice but to listen to the demon who trapped them down here. And the Angelo’s! Shit, if Mundus is back in power, every single one of them are undyingly loyal to him! Bastards got his own army of captains keeping the demons in line!

And he just dragged Vergil into the middle of all this… 

Any witty comebacks or stinging taunts he had been saving up for this fight fizzle out and died as Dante became overcome with pure rage. The time for games was over, now he’s going to finish what he should have done back on Mallet Island.


	4. Worst Case Scenario

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another update! It's been such a blast writing this series that I'm actually having a hard time working on my other projects. I've been working extra hard recently to get these chapters finished and finalized long before they end up here, and I still got a lot of work to do. I'm thinking we're down to 2 or 3 more chapters after this, and while I have plenty more planed for the future of this series, I think I might have to take a small break once this is done to catch up on some other projects which have been sitting on the back burner for too long.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

“Julio, I want you to help out Kyrie around the house and keep the boys in line.” Julio gives Nero a determined nod. “Carlo, remember to share your toys with the other two, and that goes to the rest of you too.” Carlo pouts and crosses his arms, but reluctantly agrees to Nero’s terms. “Kyle, you be on your best behaviour today. If you’re good today, I’ll get you something special when I get home.” Begging alone wouldn’t get Kyle to behave, but the promise of a reward for being good made him consider listening to him for just a moment.

“And Kyrie.” Nero wraps up as he pushes himself up to meet her eyes. “You keep being perfect in every way.”

“Oh come on, give me a challenge.” Kyrie giggles as she raises a hand to hide her blush. Nero leans forward over the kids to give her a kiss.

“You’re already doing something I could never hope to do.” Nero assures her. “Now remember, I checked through the food storages we have in the basement and you should have enough down there to keep the kids fed for a week.”

“Nero…”

“Stay near the phone when you can so you can get an early warning from me or Nico in case anything goes wrong.”

“Nero.”

“And I know it will probably never happen, but if something does get inside, please try and get some help or if you absolutely have to, get something from Nico’s garage to defe-”

“Nero!” Nero stops his panicked rambling when Kyrie raises her voice, making him wipe his nose to hide the blush crawling up his face. She usually reserves that stern tone for the kids if they’re arguing over something silly. “We’ve gone through this almost every time you’ve gone out on a hunt, this time won’t be any different.” Kyrie steps forward and takes Nero’s hands into hers, squeezing them to get her point across. “You’re capable of things I could never hope to do. In my eyes, you’ve saved the world twice. You have nothing to be scared about.”

“I mean,” Nero fumbles. “I guess if you put it like that-”

“It’s true.” Kyrie insists. “I’ve worried myself sick over you every time you’ve left on a hunt, but you’ve always made it back. I’m not going to worry anymore, I know you have this under control, and I’d hate to see you fall apart like I did when I know there won’t be a problem.” Nero sighs and nods his head. If only he had her by his side all the time, ready to smash any doubts he had to nothing.

“Alright then.” Nero submits. “You’ll be fine here. But I’m going to smash all those demons as fast as possible so I can come right back here. Can’t leave you here with these little demons to fend for yourself all week now can I?” Both him and Kyrie laugh as the children take offence to his insults and they rush in to lightly beat on his legs as he tries to escape their grasp. “But hey, just in case!” Nero starts again but is waved of by Kyrie.

“Nero, stop making out with Kyrie and let's go!” Nico demands as she bursts into the house, too impatient to wait in the van. Nero gives Kyrie one last kiss before he waddles though the angry children at his feet to make it towards the door. Nico, rushes ahead to help him. “Also, do you think I should use red fire or green fire for the paint job on the Tomboy Mk3?” Upon seeing the dreaded devil breaker, Nero picks up his pace to quickly distance himself and Nico from the rest of the family.”

“Nico! Get that shi-stuff out of here!” He corrects himself, knowing Kyrie will not take kindly to him swearing in front of the kids. “You said you’d keep this thing in the garage!”

“And you said you’re gonna get this job done as fast as possible and I’ve been sitting in the van for fifteen minutes, so come on! Let's go!” Nico successfully manages to drag Nero out of the house and into the fan. There’s no more distractions now, just business to be done. “Also, you didn’t answer the question, regular red fire, or radioactive green fire?”

“I really don’t want to be reminded that it’s radioactive every time I see it, so go with red I guess.” Nero huffs as he slams the door shut and settles in for a long ride.

“You don’t need to worry about the radiation from the uranium.” Nico assures. “It doesn’t let off enough radiation to be dangerous on its own. But because I know all you do is worry, I’ll be using lead paint to make sure no radiation escapes from the ammunition compartment.”

“Lead paint?!” Oh what is he screeching about now? “Nico are you insane?! Kyle likes to sneak around the house all the time and you’re putting lead paint on shit?!”

“God, there are things in the garage ten times scarier than lead paint!” Nico argues, but that doesn’t seem to calm Nero down any. Hell, it only made him worse. “Also, do you think a sane woman would build robot arms for their demonic best friend to punch people halfway down the street? No! You really gotta listen to Kyrie more often and stop worrying about things that don’t matter.”

“Don’t matter?!” Nero keeps babbling. “For all I know you have a **nuke** sitting in our garage. You already scare me every time you light a cigarette inside and every time you come up with some new invention there’s just one more thing that can blow up in there.”

“I thought you liked the inventions that blew up?”

“Not on me!”

“I don’t wanna hear it.” Nico holds a hand up, shutting Nero up. “Trust me, this thing won’t blow up in your face. Worst case scenario, it blows up in the bad guy’s face and I gotta make a new one.”

“It’s strapped to my arm, if it blows up at all it’s going to be in my-”

“I said I don’t want to hear it.” Nico repeats. “Now, straight to business, where are we going first?” Nico hides her rising laughter as Nero practically squirms with repressed anger by lighting up a cigarette and rolling down the windows. Eventually, all the fight in him wears out and he puts on his serious face.

“There were hell gates all over the place.” He states, staring out the window towards the buildings passing by. “But there’s one place that we should probably check, the last place I’d ever want to visit again.”

“Just say where.” Nico replies, picking up speed as they prepare for whatever’s coming up next.

“You’ve already been there.” Nero explains. “We’re heading for Fortuna Castle. If any demonic rituals or cults are involved, that castle’s the perfect hideout for creepshows like them.”

“Got it boss.” Nico nods, making a sharp turn north to begin making their way towards the ancient death trap. “Wanna put something on before we go off-road?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Nero hops out of his seat to approach the jukebox. Looking over the different songs they have loaded up, none of them seem to call out to him right now. He clicks one at random and instead of returning to the passenger seat, he sits down on the couch next the the machine to try and relax before heading back into that stupid castle. It’ll be awhile before they get there, so Nero takes the time to crack open V’s book again.

Should it bother him that he keeps calling this “V’s” book and not his father’s? Here he goes again. It’s a struggle to actually glean any meaning from these poems, but the moment he opens it up he starts getting introspective. Maybe V was just as confused with all this crap as he was and just used this book as an excuse to pick at his brain. He really needs those two assholes to come back soon so he can get the answers he’s been denied for years. That, and the chance to smack Vergil with this dumb book so he wouldn’t have to think about it would be nice.

They _are_ coming back, right?

\---

While Fortuna Castle wasn’t the frozen wasteland it was six years ago, just being here still gave Nero shivers. The Order hid so much from the general public of Fortuna, but he should have been seeing red flags the moment he saw this very obvious evil lair. There are plenty of hiding places and no doubt there were secret passages he never found his first run through here, making this place the perfect spot for demonic rituals.

“If I ever become a power crazed super villain like my dad,” Nico comments as she begins driving down the bridge into the castle. “I wanna get a place like this. Maybe add a lava moat, get a few more gargoyles. What do you think, Nero?”

“I wanna level this whole castle to the ground.” Nero answers, sharpening Red Queen as he prepares his one man siege. “What do you plan to do?”

“I’m gonna ram through the front gate, let you out, then I’m gonna camp out here on the bridge and take potshots at anything I see from here.” Tucked between the driver's seat and the wall is a large hunting rifle Nico saves for situations like this. Over a year of demon hunting and Nico got sick of letting Nero have all the fun to himself. Her mother’s masterpieces shouldn’t just be displayed in the van, they should get some action every once in a while.

“Sounds like a plan.” Nero nods as he gives his arsenal one last look over. Red Queen is razor sharp and the fuel tank is full and ready to burn. Pulling Blue Rose from its holster, he snaps the cylinder open to confirm it’s fully loaded. Walking into Nico’s workshop, he pulls an Overture off its hook and lets his right arm fade away to snap the devil breaker into his cuff. He flexes out his fingers and listens to the therapeutic clicks and whirs of his robotic digits working. He takes a few more with him to load into his belt. Gerbera is always nice to have on stand by, Punchline is too fun to leave out of his kit, and he can never go wrong bringing the original Tomboy out for a hunt. Then of course there was _that_ one, unpainted and still hot to the touch, but he made a promise to Nico that the big bad behind this invasion would be on the receiving end of it so he settles that onto his belt as well, feeling his blood pressure spike every single time it clattered against the others.

“Alright Nero!” Nico calls back, leaning over to open up the glovebox and pulling out her mother’s 45. “Either buckle up or hunker down, we’re going in!” Nero does as he’s told and kneels down next to the door, ready to burst out the moment they break through. “Here we gooo!!!!”

The large gates leading into Fortuna Castle stand no chance against the van. The gate bursts open and the van swerves uncontrollably as it tries to come to a stop in the middle of the large atrium they barge into. Nero kicks the door open and leaps out of the van, landing in between some of the pews and quickly pulling his revolver to scan the room for demons. Once the dust settles and everything’s done falling over, Nero and Nico are met with an empty room.

“Well that’s a bummer.” Nico calls out, putting the van in reverse and backing it up into the busted entrance of the castle. Once the gate is barricaded, Nico fishes the rifle out from behind her seat and sets it up out the driver side window, putting the whole church in front of her in range. “Don’t worry about any stragglers that try to get away, I’ll handle them here.”

“Alright, stay safe back here.” Nero orders as he holsters his revolver and draws his sword to march further into the castle.

“Oh oh wait!” Nico sputters out, bringing Nero to a halt. “If you find any cool demon stuff be sure to grab it. If you come back empty handed, I might just have to march in here alone to do a more thorough search.”

“Fine.” Nero huffs as he turns his back one last time. Guess he’d better take his time anyways, if the demons aren’t watching the front gate, they're either in hiding or they’re deeper in the castle. Either way, there’s one place he needs to check up on, the courtyard where the hell gate was built.

\---

Nero hated every second he spent wandering the castle. His whole body itches just being in its presence and he wasn’t sure if it was actually something wrong with the place or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. It was way too quiet. Nero took his time around each corner of this stupid maze, taking care not to let anything catch him by surprise, but the whole place was empty as far as he could tell. He wants to charge ahead and get to the courtyard already, but it would be stupid if he ended up hurting himself because he got careless.

But why was it so quiet? No patrolling guards, no hungry demons looking for a snack, nothing? This had to be a trap he was walking into, it was the only logical explanation. But he’s passed by plenty of cramped dark rooms that would be the perfect place for an ambush, why wait for him in a large open courtyard to attack?

He’s gotta stop reading that dumb book, it’s got him overthinking everything now.

Opening one last door, he’s met with fresh air once more as he walks out on a walkway above the courtyard. And here they all are, and what an odd bunch. Three humans hiding themselves under cloaks, a few scattered demons that must have wandered in from deeper in the woods or the depths of the castle,

And a whole shit load of Bianco Angelo’s.

They weren’t any more of a hassle than the others, but seeing them gives Nero a horrible feeling in his gut. Agnus and the Order had created them using pieces of some dark knight of hell and while the Savior was in power, they followed orders without question. Thing is, once he reduced the Savior to rubble, all of them fell apart, the demonic energy that commanded them left with him.

Of course, when Urizen rose to power in Red Grave, he made new Angelo’s, stronger and more vicious than these. He wonders if they shared the same power source, followed the same leaders. Seeing Angelo’s walking around again and helping orchestrate this invasion puts all sorts of horrible thoughts in his mind. These knights only serve their king, and as far as he knows, there’s only one person who’s claimed that title recently.

“Brothers, rejoice!” Nero stalks along the walkway above the gathering as one of the hooded men speak. “Our savior has almost returned to the human world once more! Not a false god, not a mimic stealing his image, but the dark knight himself.” Nero pauses as he leans over the railing to listen closer. “Finally, after two millennia! The dark knight Sparda will return!”

All right, he’s heard enough.

Leaping from the balcony, Nero takes Red Queen off his back and plummets straight down onto one of the Angelo’s. His blade sinks into the knight, stabbing through the slit between its helmet and its armor, taking it out in one go. Ripping the blade free, he hoists it up to his shoulder as he stares down the group in front of him who have all turned to face him.

“What?” He shrugs. “You thought a party like this _wouldn’t_ have party crashers?”

“No!” The cloaked man who was preaching earlier cries. “No, not you again!” The three humans make a run for it as the Angelo’s and the small gaggle of demons charge forward. Two Bianco Angelo’s charge forward, lances in hand to skewer him and he clamps his arms down on both of them, pinning them to his sides. A third one charges for him straight down the middle, believing he’s now defenseless. Nero catches it by surprise when his demon arms fly out from over his shoulders and slam into its faceplate, stopping its forward momentum and smashing its helmet in. As it falls backwards, he grabs for its lance and rams it into the side of the Angelo on his right, killing it and freeing his devil breaker which has been charging up this whole time. Nero swings at the Angelo on his left with a right hook, feeling the knights faceplate crunch under his devil breaker and lodge itself in the open cavity of the helmet before he quickly pulls his arm free as Overture is armed to detonate. With a hefty kick, he sends the Angelo fumbling backwards into the crowd of demons racing to close the gap, but Nero is too quick on the draw to let them get close. With one well placed shot, two rounds hit the overcharged devil breaker and the resulting explosion wipes out all of the demons surrounding the wounded knight, leaving only the three humans making a break for the exits and a small handful of Angelo’s remaining.

This was too easy, and that worried him a little bit. Was this all there was? Was this the welcoming party for the incoming invasion? He couldn’t just kill everything here, he needed some answers.

Picking out who’s he’s targeted as the leader of this bunch, Nero quickly clicks on his next devil breaker, Gerbera. The man who was speaking to the demons earlier is frantically making his way towards the gates to enter the castle, tripping over the large cloak he’s wrapped himself in. Thinking fast, Nero rips the lance free out of the Angelo he skewered earlier and lets Gerbera yank him up into the air. Spreading his wings to keep balance, he readies the lance in his hands and tosses it like a javelin towards the escaping cultist. The lance fails to hit him head on, but it does catch his overly long cloak, pinning him to the floor as the lance sinks deep into the ground along with a good chunk of his cloak.

With the extra time he’s bought himself, Nero finally turns to take on the last few Angelo’s remaining. To his surprise, some of them have actually started making a run for it, fleeing the courtyard along with the other two humans. Nico’s no doubt waiting for them to rear their heads into her sightlines and he’s sure he’ll hear her shots ringing out through the whole castle. Revving up Red Queen, Nero makes short work of the remaining Angelo’s who decided to stay and fight. The knights quickly fall apart under his assault and in less than a minute, he’s left alone in the courtyard with the cultist still frantically trying to pull himself free from his own cloak.

Now that he’s got time to actually look around without the fear of being ambushed, he notices something pretty important is missing from the courtyard, something he was expecting to see.

The hell gate. It wasn’t here.

He knows Dante destroyed it all those years ago, but there’s barely anything left of it, only a few loose hunks of rubble lie where it once was. He was sure they were trying to repair it or build up a new one, so where was it? Did he really get lucky enough to stop this before it happened?

Well, he’s got someone to tell him everything he wants to know.

Nero wastes no time marching over towards the cultist who’s since given up trying to escape and has now resorted to praying. Yanking him up by his hood, Nero notices a familiar symbol on his cloak, the Order’s crest. If this shit is another attempt at trying to bring the savior back, he swears…

It always irked him how the Order of the Sword kept operating after the whole savior business. After everything they did and all the people they hurt, he couldn’t understand why anyone would still listen to a single word they said. The Order was reduced to nothing but a few desperate people still clinging onto their beliefs that Sparda would one day save them, and clearly some of them decided they were sick of waiting.

“Alright buddy.” Nero hisses as he pulls the cultist up and presses Blue Rose into his temple. “Sounds like you didn’t learn your lesson last time. If you don’t want your brains splattered all over the castle walls, you’re going to tell me what you’re up to.” The cultist is terrified, and judging from his comment earlier, he must see Nero as some sort of monster who destroyed his god and intended to do it again, which he absolutely planned to. “Where and when is this invasion going to happen?!” Nero demands, pressing his revolver harder against the cultists head. “Were you planning on building a hell gate here? Is this the gathering place for the armies once they cross over? Give me something!”

“It’s today!” The cultist sputters, trying to pull away from the gun in his face. “Lord Sparda is returning to the human realm today!” Not if he had anything to say about it.

“Where!”

“The cathedral!” The cultist cries. “We rebuilt the hell gate in the cathedral!” That gives Nero pause. Pulling the gun out of his face for a moment, Nero looks up and around the courtyard. The invasion was going to start in the cathedral at the entrance of the castle? Then why were they all set up here? Maybe they were taking what they could from the shattered hell gate here and using it to assemble one inside. But then what was the deal with the other hell gates further ahead? Were they taking apart all the hell gates and bringing them back here? He feels there would be way more demonic activity if that was the case.

Nero is about to return his attention back to the cultist cowering in front of him, when a deafening blast sounds out from behind him. Nero ducks down and rolls with the blast, quickly drawing Blue Rose to defend himself against whatever just blew him back. Nothing is behind him, but looking up just past the spires of the castle, Nero sees something that turns his whole body to ice.

A giant beam of light pierces the sky in the distance, far south from where he’s standing.

He… he didn’t mean the cathedral in the middle of Fortuna, did he?

“He’s here…” The cultist mumbles, staring longingly at the light in the distance. “Lord Sparda has returned to the human re-” Nero doesn’t give the bastard a chance to savor the moment and fires a round into the back of his head. Son of a bitch, they’re marching right into the populated streets! KYRIE! He has to warn Kyrie right now! Nero charged through the nearest door back inside of the castle and sprinted towards the entrance again.

Clearly, Nico saw whatever mess was going on outside and came to the same conclusion as he did because he’s only made it halfway down the hall before the van comes barreling through the stone wall and stops in front of him. Nero wastes no time pulling the door open and crawling inside the van, and Nico wastes no time asking questions about what's happening. It was time to move.

“Gimme the phone!” Nero demands, frantically scrambling towards the front seat. Nico’s focused on getting out of the castle but the moment she gets a free hand, she reaches for the phone on the dashboard and hands it over to him as he takes a seat. Nero practically misses the chair and only hangs onto it by the edge as he leans forward to key in Kyrie’s number. Whether due to stress or the lack of paved roads, Nero is unable to keep steady and ends up pressing the wrong key. He slams the phone down hard on the base to try again. “Damn it! Can’t you keep this thing still for one second!” Nico doesn’t respond, she’s just as scared as he is and is hell bent on getting to Fortuna as fast as humanly possible. Nero struggles to find a balance between speed and precision while trying Kyrie’s number again, but the phone starts ringing after only a few presses. He takes the call without a moment's hesitation. “Kyrie?!”

“Nero!” Hearing her voice nearly brings Nero to tears as a dagger is lifted from his heart. She’s ok, oh thank god she’s ok.

“Kyrie, I need you to take the kids into the basement and seal it o-”

“It’s already done.” Nero actually shudders with relief hearing that. Bless this woman. “We felt the blast only moments ago and I got everyone down here in no time. You don’t have to worry about us down here.”

“Kyrie, you know I can’t not worry about you during all of this.” He tries to reason but Kyrie shushes him over the phone.

“That’s ok, but I know you’re going to make things safe again. You always do, so I know there’s no need to worry. And… I know I probably shouldn’t say this near the kids, but I feel it’s warranted now.” Nero closes his eyes and listens closely to the message. “Give them hell, honey. Then come back home.”

The blush that crawls up Nero’s neck melts away the shivers he felt seeing the light break out in Fortuna as he returns the phone to its base. As he does, Nico barges through the front gates of the castle once more and begins barreling down the bridge at high speeds towards the city. It’s not that long of a drive, but every minute that passes makes Nero more restless and angry. How could he let something like this happen in his own home town?! How was this all done just under his nose?!

Needing something to keep him occupied on the drive without tearing his own hair out, Nero pulls the Tomboy Mk3 from his belt to get familiar with it. When he finds the son of a bitch leading the charge, he’s going to hit him so hard they’re will be nothing left of him.


	5. They're Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 1000 hits. I can't believe it! 500 was already a huge milestone for me and to have that milestone be crushed in under two weeks is insane! As a special treat, this chapter and the next are going to be a bit bigger than normal.
> 
> I will mention that writing prolonged action scenes tends to give me problems. It's pretty hard to translate the amazing choreographed fight in your head onto paper, tell me if I did a good job or not.

Seeing smoke rise in the distance was what pushed Nero over the edge. As twisted and manipulative the Order was, they did defend the city when demons arose within Fortuna, even if they were the ones who brought them there. Now though, there’s no organized fighting force in Fortuna, just a few armed individuals and him. Nero somehow managed to completely miss it, but during the drive Nico got a call from Morison. Lady and Trish were already on their way, but Nero and Nico were the only ones here to hold back the first assault until they got here.

If Nero has anything to say about it, Lady and Trish are going to be disappointed to find the invasion’s already been smashed.

He can’t sit still, think straight, or even focus on what Nico is trying to tell him. He keeps clenching his fists and it’s only when Nico actually punches him in the shoulder to get his attention that he realizes his palms are bleeding and his nails have grown into claws. His demon wants out, and he’s ready to give it full control to rip and tear through the army they’re about to go up against.

“Nero!” With one last shout directly into his ear, Nico finally manages to break Nero out of his daze. “What the hell are we doing once we’re in there?”

“Get in there and splatter every demons brains on the street.” Nero growls. He’s too cramped up in here, he needs to get out and spread his wings.

“Ok Rambo, what about me then?” Nico reiterates. “I’m sure you’ll have fun picking these bugs’ legs off like a sadistic kindergartener, but what should I be doing?” Hearing that got Nero to reel himself back a bit. There were still people in Fortuna that would need evacuation, lives that needed to be saved. Putting a stop to the invasion as fast as possible was a major priority, but they couldn’t just let everyone else fend for themselves in the meantime.

“I want you to drive around the city and make as much noise as possible.” Nero details. “Try and get people out of hiding and off the streets, load them up in here and get them out. Anything that isn’t a person can be considered roadkill.”

“There, see. It’s not hard to come up with half decent battle plans when you rip your head out of your ass.” Nico remarks as she shifts into high gear and blazes past the city limits. “And remember, if you don’t use my new devil breaker at some point in this fight, I’m going to keep making more of them until you do.” As if the thought of unleashing this thing on the asshole responsible for this wasn’t enough motivation.

Now that they’re in the thick of it, they now have to deal with something that’s uncommon in their hunts - they had to fight through the surge of terrified civilians trying to escape. Whenever there was a surge in demonic activity, Nero was either already in the thick of it or everyone had already abandoned the place. As it stands now, they aren’t equipped to maneuver around the swarms of people and vehicles trying to rush past them. The van is taken to a stand still as they’re forced to wait out the traffic leaving the city.

“Man, fuck this.” Nero rolls down his window and undoes his seatbelt.

“What are you doing?!”

“Wait until these guys are safe, then get deeper into town.” Nero calls back as he crawls through the window and claws his way on top of the van. Nico continues to berate him for possibly denting the roof of the van, but he’s not going to sit still any longer. Taking a few steps back and letting his wings free, Nero takes a running start and leaps from the van.

Getting to release some of the pent up energy and tension within him causes his devil trigger to slip out little by little. He really shouldn’t be expending so much energy before he even got into a fight, but the experience doesn’t feel draining. If anything, pushing himself and allowing his inner demon to be set free is actually giving him more energy. He knows it’s not going to last, it never does, but he’s going to ride this high as long as he can until he got down to business.

He was probably scaring the shit out of the people who’s cars he’s skipping over to avoid traffic. These guys were going too slow anyways, having a demon stomp their roof in should kick them into high gear. Eventually he runs out of cars to skip over and he lands hard on a mostly clear street. His devil trigger is out in full effect now and he’s just about ready to snap at anything that moved.

Seeing his home town go up in smoke like this again made him see red, and even now in his full devil trigger, he’s feeling stronger than ever. He’s never had this much power before, the only time he’s gotten this close was when he ascended the qliphoth to stop Dante and Vergil. He wanted nothing more to rush back home to check in on Kyrie, but she’s done everything she can to make sure her and the kids are safe, now it’s his turn to keep everyone else safe.

“Come on!” Nero screams out into the streets, extending his arms and scanning the alley ways. “I’m the one you want! I can take all of you with one arm!” His taunts seem to attract attention as a whole squad comes marching around the corner. Angelo’s both new and old, marching in formation and all turning to face him. One of them takes the lead and Nero pauses for just a moment to get a good look at it, this one seems new. All of the Angelo’s he knew of were suited in armor and wore horned helmets, and while the ones he was familiar with appeared angelic, the ones from Red Grave weren’t too dissimilar. This one didn’t seem to be wearing armor at all, it was more of an exoskeleton, held together by something hiding underneath.

“Slay the bastard son!” The leading Angelo commands, and the soldiers behind him charge forward to fulfil their orders. Though Nero did claim he could beat all of them with one arm, that didn’t mean he was going to take the effort to do that. He wanted these things dead and over with so he could continue his trek towards the cathedral. Tossing Gerbera out, he quickly snaps on Tomboy and attaches it to Red Queen. The heat that comes off his sword as he revs it up is almost too hot to handle, even against his scales. He had so much trouble trying to use this with any amount of control, so why Nico thought it was a good idea to add _more_ power to it baffled him. Though, he will admit that he’s excited to see what it’s gonna do to the thing he uses it on.

Nero charges forward with his overcharged sword held high, letting out a roaring battle cry as he does. A Scudo Angelo gets a lead over the others and rears his sword back to catch him with an underhand swing. As the knight swings upward, Nero revs up Red Queen, causing it to lurch up over his shoulders, then straight down in front of him as he uses all four hands to bring it back down onto the Angelo. The speed and power of the slash cuts through his armor like tissue paper, cleaving the demons arm off and shredding the armor along its right side.

The blade bounces off the concrete and Nero uses that momentum to right himself before revving the blade again and sending him spiraling deeper into the crowd. Nero extends his wings and claws at anything that tries to attack from behind as he madly hacks his way through the army. Nero can’t help but break into a giddy laugh as he effortlessly slashes through armor, shields, and swords like they’re nothing.

That all comes to a halt once he gets to the newest Angelo commander.

Nero brings Red Queen down with extreme prejudice on the knight with the intentions of cracking its armor and seeing what leaks out. Unlike all the others who pointlessly tried to defend themselves from his blows, this one quickly sidesteps and makes an immediate counter attack. Bringing up a large curved sword, the new Angelo hooks the blade into Nero’s right wrist and with a tug, shears Tomboy in half.

Alright, he’ll give him that. Someone had to put an end to his power trip at some point. Now we’ll see how this tough guy likes a more serious Nero.

Quickly back pedaling to give himself some breathing room, Nero takes inventory of the situation. He’s finally starting to feel the drain his devil trigger is having on his body. He calls it off, reverting back to his human form once more to save energy for what will no doubt be harder fights in the future. The bug like Angelo seems to chuckle as he drops his devil trigger.

“Such a shame to see Sparda’s legacy be sullied by your filthy human blood.” Hearing the demon taunt him like this actually gets Nero to start laughing.

“You’re talking awfully big for someone who managed to land one hit on me!” Nero snaps back. “Tell me, since you seem to have a bit more brains than the idiots you command, do you really think you stand a chance?” To accentuate his point, Nero throws his arm down against his belt and clicks Punchline into his cuff, bringing it up to crack his robotic knuckles.

“Perhaps not this form, but I will enjoy tearing you apart when I arrive to burn this city to the ground.” So that’s it huh? This thing is some sort of puppet for the big bad in charge?

“Then enough playing games, get your ass over here so I kick it back to hell where you belong!” Stabbing Red Queen into the ground, Nero revs her up and waits for the puppet Angelo to make the first move. The Angelo begins charging forward, dragging his sword along the ground behind him. As he moves, Nero watches as his exoskeleton shifts and shudders with each movement, revealing a bloody mass just underneath. If he can slip past his armor and get a clean hit on his unprotected flesh, he’s done. Nero charges to meet the Angelo head on, preparing to use Punchline to split his attention and allow him to find a weak point without having to worry about his sword.

But he doesn’t even get close.

As he approaches the Angelo, Nero feels the hairs along his arms stand up and a tingle runs up his whole body. He stops and turns in time to just barely avoid being rammed by a Blitz. Nero stumbles a bit and tries to find a good position to take on both the puppet Angelo and the Blitz,

But the Blitz isn’t after him.

It’s after the Angelo.

The Blitz’s spiked gauntlets punch straight through the Angelo’s exoskeleton, puncturing the squishy flesh underneath. Not only has this caught Nero completely off guard, but the Angelo is also completely stunned by the attack. Nero’s about to run off towards the cathedral and let whatever the hell is going on here play out, when another puppet Angelo arrives.

Nero only barely manages to duck under the curved blade going for his neck, causing him to stumble for balance. The Angelo doesn’t relent, pressing the attack while Nero is still struggling to center himself. The Angelo takes another swing at his head and in his efforts to dodge it, Nero completely loses his balance and falls flat on his back, leaving him exposed for the Angelo to get a hit in. Nero brings his arms and legs up to brace for his strike, but yet again something swoops in to his rescue.

A red blur whizzes' over his head and collides with the Angelo in front of him. With the time that buys, Nero quickly scrambles back up to his feet to find a Fury dancing around the Angelo’s frenzied swings, slashing at the knight and chipping away at its armor. The Angelo eventually catches the Fury’s throat with its blade and slashes through it the moment the Fury tries to dash for safety.

Nero takes this moment to launch Punchline straight for the Angelo while he’s still reeling from the assault from the Fury. His fist crashes into the Angelo’s knee at high speeds, shattering the exoskeleton protecting it and destroying his leg. Nero’s quick to push his advantage while the Angelo falls to his knee and he manages to decapitate the demon with one solid swing while he’s still falling.

Nero stops and does a full 360, looking to see if any more puppet Angelo’s were on their way or if any more demons were going to get in between his fights. What the hell was going on? Blitz’s attacking friend and foe alike was nothing new, but the Fury rushing to his aid confirmed it.

There was infighting among the demons.

He has no idea what the hell is going on anymore, but he doesn’t have time to figure it out. These new puppet Angelo’s are being controlled by the leader of this invasion, and he needs to die now. If random demons were turning against their leader, that’s fine by him. They’re not getting off his shitlist anytime soon though, it’s still shoot to kill for any demon in sight. He’s wasted too much time here, he has to keep moving.

He’s down to his last two breakers… This asshole better show himself already so he can ensure the Tomboy Mk3 survives for the encounter.

\---

Nero was completely wiped by the time the cathedral came into view. Every two steps had some demon leap out of an alleyway or from the rooftops to eat him alive, making progress to the center of town agonizingly slow. Punchline made a good mile of the trip a complete breeze, but once that was gone, he was left to slowly walk and fight his way through endless waves of demons.

The fighting between the Angelo’s and the other minor demons allowed him to ignore some of the fights and keep making progress, but the puppet Angelo’s seemed dead set on singling him out and trying their damndest to kill him then and there. He was looking for the big guy himself, the least the impatient bastard could do was wait till they met properly instead of getting his puppets killed off.

But he’s finally made it, the remains of the Cathedral is only a short walk away. It was one of the few places in Fortuna which had been completely abandoned after the savior business six years ago. So much of it had been destroyed and there were so many bad memories associated with it that the town decided to leave it as is, sort of as a reminder of what happened to the Order and their demons. It was also home to one of the biggest hell gates, and while the clean cut Dante slashed it apart with was impressive, Nero fears that just meant it was easier to piece back together.

With a few more steps forward with frequent glances over his shoulder, Nero finally senses multiple sources of power up ahead. The big bad had to be here by now, unless he had a group of powerful captains under his command. Nero may be winded, but he isn’t done fighting, not by a longshot. He feels one of the power sources getting closer and preemptively revs his sword. Come on, let's finish this! He feels the energy getting closer, maybe less than half a block away and coming up just behind one of the buildings he’s about to pass by. He stops and waits for them to reveal themselves, priming himself for the bloody clash they’re about to have.

…

Oh no…

OH HELL NO!

Stumbling out from down the road directly into Nero’s sight is the very last person he wanted to see right now. He had his suspicions since hearing those cultists mention bringing Sparda back to the human realm, and those suspicions only grew deeper when the Angelo’s started labeling him as ‘the bastard son’. He should have known. He should have fucking known this was all his fault!

Eventually, both of them meet each other's gaze. Vergil was back, and they were going to settle things right here.

He may not be the one in charge, but he couldn’t think of a more deserving target for the Tomboy Mk3. Throwing his arm down to click it into place, Nero quickly adjusts to the feeling of the prototype devil breaker. It’s way bulkier than any of the others, the back of his hand and the bottom of his palm tap against the fuel tanks if he tries to roll his wrists. The whole arm buzzes with an uneasy energy, and the arm has a hefty weight to it, it takes a bit more effort than he would like to lift up his arm.

He really doesn’t like this thing being on him, so he knows Vergil is _really_ not gonna like getting hit with it.

“I should have fucking known you would be at the center of all this!” Nero spats out, stomping towards his father. Vergil seems to be completely taken off guard and stands shocked, unable to move; proof that he knows he’s fucked up big time. “You said you wanted a rematch right? Here I am, and this time, I’m not pulling any punches!” Vergil appears mortified as Nero makes his approach, but after that last statement, all the fear seems to wash off and is replaced with a smirk. The change was so jarring that it actually stuns Nero for just a second.

“I knew you weren’t giving it your all the last time we met!” Oh he was a deadman. Nero activates his devil trigger and charges him straight on, causing Vergil to fumble again. He’s got every right to be scared right now, while he’s been wasting away in hell, Nero’s only gotten stronger in the year since. Vergil brings up the Yamato in a defensive stance with the blade still in its sheath.

Nero’s only a few quick steps away from clashing blades, when something new flies towards the both of them.

Why can’t anything just leave him alone for two seconds?! Both he and Vergil leap backwards to avoid whatever’s coming for them, Nero’s devil trigger fizzling out as he does, and cratering right in between them is another familiar face.

“Dante?!” It took several seconds to register, but sure enough, the piece of hot garbage splayed out on the floor in front of them was Dante. He looked like hell, which is fair since that’s where he came from. He was even more unkempt than when they found him in Red Grave after a month of radio silence, his once white hair has now gone a dirty gray with soot and gunk. There were also about four different swords and spears sticking out of him at various angles, but he’s walked off worse.

“Hey kid…” Dante croaks, struggling to sit up with the various weapons skewering him. “Lay off your old man.” He orders between labored breaths. “For once, this isn’t his fault.”

“I was wondering where you ran off to.” Vergil comments as he approaches his fallen brother and lends him a hand. “I was worried you had been overrun without my help.”

“I always knew you cared.” Dante sarcastically praises as he’s pulled up onto unsteady feet. “Hey Nero, wanna help pull some of these out?”

**“What the fuck is happening?!”** This is it, he’s officially gone off the deep end. Nothing makes sense anymore. He would say he never doubted that they’d be back, but after a whole year with nothing, he gave up hopes of seeing them again. But they’re back, he should be happy to at least see Dante, but this whole situation is so fucked that any joy that this reunion would have brought got lost in the conflicting thoughts in his head.

“Again,” Dante winces as Vergil yanks a lance out of his chest, “Not his fault this time.” Vergil moves onto the next sword, but Dante holds him back for a moment so he can keep his thoughts straight without the spikes of pain the removal of the blades brought. “A mutual enemy of ours decided to crawl his nasty ass out of the hell hole I kicked him into and is back for revenge.”

“Then what the hell have I been hearing about the return of Sparda!” Nero snaps back. “Because from the sound of it, all these demons followed _him_ here. The Angelo’s marching around and burning down my home town only listen to the king of the underworld and last I heard, that was _him.”_ Nero points an accusatory finger at Vergil, and when the only response he gets is a smug grin, the only thing that kept Nero from smashing his nose in was Dante standing between them.

“Technically, I don’t think Vergil is the king yet.” He’s quick to spit out before either his nephew or his brother can shove him aside to continue their feud.

“Watch your tongue!” Vergil smacks Dante in the back of the head. “The only reason you haven’t been torn limb from limb is because many of the demons actually acknowledge my lordship!”

“The last demon king hasn’t died yet.” Dante retorts. “If you want the throne, you gotta kill the guy sitting in it!”

“If one of you doesn’t give me a straight answer as to what the fuck is going o-!” Nero’s demands are shut down as a massive wave of energy blows over him coming from the cathedral. Dante flinches back with the wave and Vergil lets out a choked out gasp as the power washes over him. Nero actually stumbles backwards with the energy, it’s like nothing he’s ever felt before. “What was that?”

“The previous demon king Mundus.” Dante says in a dejected sigh. He doesn’t seem too excited about what’s coming. “Currently wearing our dad like a flesh suit.” Nero is left completely speechless. What he’s hearing sounds like an absolute nightmare, and the power seeping off of Mundus inside the cathedral is enough to confirm without a doubt that he’s the strongest thing Nero himself has gone up against.

Nero takes a step towards the cathedral. He’s always hated the savior statues built all over town and as cathartic as smashing them all to pieces was, no doubt beating in the head of the real Sparda will alleviate all the stress finding out he’s related to the bastard brought.

“Where are you going.” Nero stops as Vergil raises his voice behind him. “Mundus is mine!” Vergil steps forward to pull Nero back, and Nero slaps his hand away.

“Excuse me?!”

“Uh, Vergil?” Dante starts as he slowly steps forward. “Maybe don’t argue this one.”

“Me and Mundus have unsettled business.” Vergil states with grim determination. “I will not have you get between me and my vengeance. You have no personal stake in this fight, I do.”

“I have no personal stake in this fight?” Nero marches right up into Vergil’s face. **”I have no personal stake in this?!”** Nero shoves Vergil back and Dante throws his hands up to his face. Why was his brother such a dumbass! “Do you even care about what’s happening around us right now! People are dying, _MY_ people! I’ve been left all alone up here for more than a year trying my hardest to keep these people safe and the moment you show up you bring the demon king himself right onto my doorstep!”

“He is not the demon ki-” With a blazing fast right hook, Nero smashes his metallic fist into his father's teeth, feeling his jaw dislocate under the blow. Vergil’s head snaps to the side and he hits the ground like a sack of bricks.

“I DON’T CARE!” Nero spats as Dante quickly rushes in to keep his nephew from doing anymore harm. “All you do is make things worse! You’ve done nothing but make my life a living hell by putting my family in danger!” Vergil struggles to push himself back up, spitting out blood as he rises to face his son. “I’m going to fix yet another mess you started, and if you try to stop me… I’ll kill you!” Vergil visibly pales when he says this, and that only enrages him more. “You’re no father of mine. I tried to save you, believing that there was a shred of hope that you could change, but I’m not going to let the people I love die because of you.”

Shoving Dante aside, Nero turns his back on the both of them and begins marching towards the cathedral to face off against Mundus. Dante starts to follow after him, but stops when he notices Vergil isn’t following them. Looking back, he finds Vergil is the worst he’s ever been. He’s fallen down to his knees, holding Yamato close and looking at Dante with pleading eyes threatening to spill tears. Dante wants to come back and support his brother, but Nero refuses to slow his pace for him, and he wasn’t going to let his nephew face Mundus all alone. As much as he wants to assure Vergil that everything Nero said was in the heat of the moment, there’s no denying that they made their mess his too.

Dante pulls himself away from Vergil’s gaze and rushes in to assist Nero, leaving him all alone in the streets outside of the cathedral. Over a year of planning out his reunion with his son, a year of imaginary conversations in his head, all stomped down the drain. He couldn’t stop seeing the constant mistakes he’s made in the past, and to have all of those mistakes used against him so violently…

He deserved all of this.

He was the demon king, after all. Why did he think that title would hold any amount of prestige or respect in his family. His every action, his one goal he strived to achieve, did nothing but hurt those around him, and when he was given one chance to put it all behind him, he abandoned it to keep searching for power.

Nero is right, he’s done nothing but destroy all in his path in his quest for power.

But now he has it now! All of his sacrifices, all of the suffering he went through was worth it to obtain his true power. He finally had the means to protect those he cared about.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Vergil pushes himself back onto his feet. Nero said it himself, back on the qliphoth he still believed there was good in him, and Dante never stopped believing that. He wasn’t going to let them fight his battles for him, he was going to help them right the countless wrongs he’s committed.

He hoped against hope that Nero could forgive him once this was all over. Failing that, he wasn’t going to let Mundus take anything else away from him.

\---

Walking back into the remains of the cathedral brought back all sorts of memories for Nero. So much has happened since the days he came down here to hear Kyrie sing, and it was right here that he met Dante for the first time and his whole life spiraled into the strange mess it was now. The remains of the giant savior statue that used to watch over the cathedral is now obscured by a towering hell gate, built right in the middle of Fortuna but hidden away in the cathedral no one dared entered.

And standing right in front of the opened hell gate was the king himself.

Or, the king hiding away inside the god everyone in town worshiped. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he saw Sparda. With all the grand statues of him and an entire religious sect hyping him up, seeing this decaying bug man in armor just felt disappointing. Hearing Dante charge into the cathedral to back him up, Nero decides to keep that disappointment to himself.

“The bastard child of my knight… has arrived…” Mundus is hunched over in front of his hell gate, leaning hard on the massive sword in his possession. He seems out of breath and weak compared to the puppet Angelo’s outside, and it looks like Dante and Vergil already did a number on him. “Where has he run off to…?”

“Your dark knight’s busy picking his teeth out of the pavement outside!” Nero responds. “Besides, your business is with me now, or were those nothing but empty threats coming from your puppets?”

“It’s been way too long since I saw you again Nero.” Dante comments as he summons his blade and joins Nero's side. “How about we catch up by introducing you to an old Sparda family tradition and kick Mundus’ ass!”

“Then the both of you will die... together…” Mundus hoists up his massive sword, struggling to hold it up in front of himself. “I will pay my respects to my host... by purifying his bloodline... by culling you and your kin...”

“Alright buddy…” Nero pulls Red Queen from his back, lodging it into the stone floor and revving it up. Dante draws Ebony and Ivory from their holsters and moves to cover Nero as he prepares to attack. “I’d like to see you try!” Ripping Red Queen free from the floor, Nero charges forward and Dante begins laying down covering fire.

Mundus barely makes a move as Nero closes the distance between them. He drags his feet and shifts his whole body in order to force one foot in front of the other. His large, crudely made curved sword is now dragging along the ground to his side as he approaches. This was all the big demon king had to offer? Nero almost decides to stop and wait to see how long it will take Mundus to even take a swing at him, but Dante fires off some quick warnings before he gets too close.

“Don’t let him fool you Nero!” Dante rushes up quickly and throws himself in front of Nero, striking up a defensive stance. Nero’s about to push him aside and take a swing at Mundus, but before he can even raise his hand Mundus becomes a blur. In the blink of an eye, a gust of displaced air kicks Nero in the face as Dante is slammed backwards into him. Keeping his eyes on Mundus, Nero finds that the sword which was once being dragged behind him is now high in the air.

Holy shit he’s fast!

“Damn! He got me good there.” Returning his attention back to Dante, Nero’s shocked to find a deep gash has been slashed through his right arm. “You still alright kid?” Wasn’t that his royal guard?! How did Mundus get a hit in through that?!

“Don’t go getting yourself killed trying to save me!” Nero calls out as he presses forward. “Just focus on putting the big guy in the ground!” Drawing Blue Rose, Nero unloads every round he has loaded while he revs up his sword. The sword in Mundus’ hand crashes back down to the ground as he’s unable to hold it up. His body must be fragile if he can only manage short bursts of strength and speed. Maybe if he can get him to miss a swing he can get his opening.

Mundus doesn’t seem too interested in the bullets Nero’s firing into his chestplate. Instead, it looks like he’s trying to press the attack on Dante now that he’s already wounded and his guard is broken. Nero doesn’t take too kindly to his arrogance.

Time to test out the prototype.

Flexing his wrist, a large compartment opens up along the bottom of the forearm on the devil breaker. Jamming Blue Rose into the compartment, it clamps down over the revolver, leaving only the handle and trigger still visible. An enlarged barrel and targeting system juts out of the arm once the gun is locked in and the whole arm starts to heat up and vibrate. Taking aim at the tired face of the late Sparda, Nero pulls the trigger before he gets second thoughts about putting this thing on.

The recoil nearly rips his arm free from his shoulder.

There were no words to accurately describe the kick back of the shot, but the pain is worth it to hear the pained wail Mundus lets out. Nero couldn’t miss the spot he hit, the shot left a massive hole in Sparda’s head, six inches in diameter. A mass of bloody, singed limbs begin trying to reach out and fill in the massive hole, locking arms and pulling his head back together. Bracing himself for the unbelievable kick back, Nero lowers his aim just a bit. If a clean shot to the head didn’t do the trick, decapitating him by chewing through his neck should work.

Only problem now is he’s pissed Mundus off. Nero loses track of his target and realizes why way too late. Even with the massive hole in his head and a good distance between them, Mundus quickly closes in on him and Nero tries to act fast to avoid his wrath. Nero tries to pull his gun free from the Tomboy Mk3, but it refuses to budge. Something is still clicking around in his arm, a process that hasn’t finished yet and it refuses to give him his gun back until it’s done. With his arms full, Nero is unable to grab for Red Queen to defend himself or deflect the attack. He stumbles backwards, praying he’ll get lucky and somehow dodge the curved edge of Mundus’ blade, but something thankfully gets between him and certain death.

“NERO!” In a flash of blue light, something rushes in front of Nero only to be immediately bashed aside, sprawling out and crashing through the stone walls of the cathedral. Was that Vergil?! Whatever that was, Mundus missed his intended target, and with a click, Nero’s gun is freed from his devil breaker.

Now was his chance.

Nero has no idea how long it takes for Mundus to regain his strength after pushing himself like that, so he wastes no time pulling Red Queen from his back and letting the Tomboy Mk3 interface with the sword. The moment the accelerant hits the combustion engine within his sword, the whole thing goes up in flames. Nero fights through the heat and moves to strike Mundus.

Mundus seems to recover much faster than Nero was expecting and hoists his sword up to smash it down on him. Before he gets the chance to boost his swing, Mundus howls in pain as Dante rams his devil sword into his leg, causing his knee to buckle. The power boost Mundus was about to receive fizzles out and his sword falters and hovers just above the ground.

Perfect!

Taking the initiative, Nero hops on top of the blade and runs along it. Once he’s out of blade and comes across armored flesh, Nero thrusts his sword down and lets it drag behind him as he runs up Mundus’ arm. The sword easily burns through the armor and flesh, leaving a horrible smell as he charges up for Mundus’ head. Raising his sword up, Nero drives the sword down into the remains of his face, letting Red Queen sink hilt deep. Nero recoils slightly at the sight of sizzling flesh and boiling blood trying to push the blade out and cringes as he hears the blood curdling cry Mundus lets out as he twists the blade. Red Queen doesn’t even feel like a sword anymore with how easily it cuts and burns, it’s more of a lightsaber now.

“Where’s all that big talk now!” Nero raises his voice to be heard over Mundus’ cries. “Only a quarter demon and I’m about to cut you in half straight down the middle! You still got anything to say about the Sparda bloodline?!”

“If Sparda will fail me again…!” Mundus’ hisses out in pain. “Then I’ll settle for you!” Nero has no idea what he’s going on about but before he can go through with his promise of splitting him in two, the bloody mass hiding within Sparda’s corpse springs free from the gaping wound in his head and latches onto his right arm. Nero tries to pull free, but it pulls back with more strength and it’s only tightening its grip around his hand, digging itself into every nook and crevice it can find. Nero feels his whole right hand heat up like crazy and quickly detaches himself from it, leaping off of Mundus with a flap of his wings and leaving his sword and breaker behind. The parasitic limbs of Mundus completely take over the arm, consuming it and creating a large fleshy tumor around it, but through the demonic flesh, Nero can see the devil breaker is overloading.

“Everybody out! Get out no-!” Nero tries to flap his wings to escape the range of the overloading devil breaker, but doesn’t get far enough. With a blinding explosion, Nero is thrown up and through what remained of the cathedral’s skylight. Blinded, deaf, and soaring through the sky, Nero tucks himself into a ball and braces for an impact with either a wall or the concrete with one thought repeating in his mind.

God damnit Nico, he knew this would happen!


	6. A Greater Power

Tearing one's own soul in half was a traumatic experience, no matter how well you put it back together. Vergil did not come out of the experience the same man he was before the event. The two halves of his soul, V and Urizen, now had permanent residence in his conscience. During times of stress or deep thought, Vergil had difficulty keeping his thoughts straight and often felt like a stranger in his own mind, and during difficult times like this, his two halves would fight for supremacy.

“You’ve broken him. He was right to toss you out, the moment you returned to me you gave him back all the pain and weakness he tried to dispose of.” Vergil often found himself here, in some blank void deep inside his own head, caught listening to his two halves shift blame on each other for who made him like this.

“You think you’re entirely blameless here?” V often leapt to Vergil’s defense, but it was not always a given. “I know he wasn’t able to completely separate his fears and desires from you when he split. I heard the fit you were throwing when Dante still beat you after eating the fruit. You’re just as petty as he was.” Vergil hated it here. He swore this was some sort of hex casted on him in hell, but evidently it followed him back to the surface. He was stuck here, forced to listen to his very soul berate itself in this odd ritual of self deprecation.

“You believe you’re so high and mighty.” Urizen retorts. “You think you’re the superior half, that without me he would be whole, but you know that’s wrong because even you came crawling back to me.” All of these nightmares appeared the same. Urizen towered over V, who remained frail and alone. V always tried to stand up to Urizen’s onslaught, to insist that he was the better half, but the demon always slaughtered him. “Alone, you were nothing! You would have crumbled to dust without my power. I was finally whole, complete! Without Dante’s interference, you would have faded into nothingness, and I would have ruled without question.”

“Then why did you let me back in?” Vergil had tried to shut out the argument, believing it was going to repeat the same insults as before, but hearing this makes him listen more intently “You could have refused and I would be powerless to do anything about it. You willingly let me back in, even though I was nothing but a source of pain.”

Vergil stops trying to fight this nightmare and actually attempts to listen in. While V still looks weak and small compared to his monstrous other half, he’s standing taller and staring him down without a hint of fear in his eyes.

“Even a heatless, sore loser like you knew I had something you didn’t.” V stated with more confidence than he’s ever managed before. “You didn’t need me to continue existing, but you knew you would never reach your full potential without me.” V kicks up his cane to let it rest over his shoulder. “And don’t mistake this as me shaming you, it’s simply a trait we both share with our full self;

A desire for power.”

“I ate the fruit of the qliphoth!” Urizen spats back, growing furious. “I effortlessly defeated Dante the first time we fought! I was the one Vergil wanted, he threw _YOU_ out!” Urizen looms over V, the shadow he casts obscuring him in darkness, but V doesn’t budge.

“And even in your grand delusion you knew I had power you wanted, you _needed.”_ V, without removing the cane from his shoulder, walks right up to Urizen until he was just about touching him, looking straight up to meet his eyes. “Even you knew that my humanity had to be returned. And as much as I detest your actions, I know I can’t survive without you. So how about we settle things.”

Vergil’s heart skips when both V and Urizen turn to face him. In all of these nightmares he’s never been directly confronted, he’s always been an invisible spectator to the incompatibility of his soul. Both V and Urizen begin making their way towards him and Vergil tries to back away, but like most nightmares, he’s unable to move. Both halves stop right in front of Vergil, watching him expectantly. He’s forced to look at them, and he can’t understand how either of them came from him. They were both so different, so strange, so unlike him; but they were him.

“We are the son of the legendary dark knight.” Both of them speak in unison. “Vergil Sparda, the Dark Slayer.”

“I am the power your father bestowed upon you.” Urizen continues alone. “I am the strength that lets you slay evil, that lets you protect the ones you love.”

“And I am your source of motivation.” V follows up. “I am the boy our mother loved, and it is I who gives you the ability to love.”

“Without my strength, you cannot protect anything.”

“But without me, you wouldn’t have anything worth protecting.”

Vergil is left stunned by this revelation. Watching as both waring halves of his soul finally make peace despite their differences, Vergil struggles to comprehend it. Was this some merciful hallucination trying to ease his spirit, or has his fractured psyche actually put itself together before his eyes?

Whatever the case, he can’t afford to let these halves tear each other apart anymore. The power he’s obtained won’t be worth any of the sacrifices he’s made for it if he doesn’t act to save his son or brother. He doesn’t care if they accept his help or not, he has his power, it’s time to use it to protect rather than destroy.

“Destroy the old demon king.” Urizen commands, clenching his fists. “Make him pay for all he’s done to the legacy of Sparda.”

“Save our son.” V pleads. “Do it for the love you lost all those years ago.”

\---

When Nero finally comes to, every inch of his body feels bruised. Nero stares up into the sky, trying to recollect his thoughts after taking a mean hit to the head. He wants to sit up, but he’s scared he might have broken something in the fall. Where did he even land? He needs time to heal, so he continues to lie flat on his back to regain some of his energy, but there’s a slow thumping sound getting closer to him. Nero gives himself till the count of five to get a few more precious seconds of rest before he lifts his head up to see what’s coming,

Just for Mundus to rapidly close the distance and bring his armored boot down hard onto Nero’s chest.

Blinding pain shoots all through Nero’s chest as Mundus presses all of his weight down on him, crushing his ribs. Nero throws his arms up to try and push him off, but can’t muster the strength to make him budge. Looking up at the demon king, most of Sparda’s left half has been blown off, splitting his head open and completely dismembering his left arm. The disgusting flesh of Mundus quickly works to fill in the void left behind by Nero’s devastating attack.

“Pathetic mortal…” Mundus twists his heel and it digs into Nero’s chest. Nero fights through the pain to keep his hands on his boot, refusing to let it crush him. “I should congratulate you… I’ve never seen such a disgusting amalgam of demon and human. If only it was as easy... as bleeding you dry to purify you.”

“Seriously...” Nero chokes out, struggling to get a breath in to keep talking. “You’re going to call _me_ disgusting? You’re a walking tumor hiding inside a cor-!” With another twist of Mundus’ heel, the breath is strangled out of him.

“Dante and Vergil were already repulsive on their own… To think they poisoned their bloodline further.” Mundus drags his sword up closer as Nero is still unable to free himself. “Once I’m finished with you, I’ll scour the earth to insure not a single drop of human blood sullies this once respected bloodline.” Upon hearing this, Nero doubles his efforts to escape, ignoring the pain in his chest and arms to push back against Mundus. “Oh?” Mundus seems mildly amused by Nero’s efforts. “I’m right, aren’t I? There is another filthy half breed.”

“I’ll fucking kill you!” Nero growls, using what little energy he has to activate his devil trigger and push this big bastard off him, but even with the enhanced strength of his devil form, he’s only able to slowly lift Mundus’ foot off of his chest. “I’ll tear you apart!”

“I grow tired of this…” Mundus drags his sword up and holds it above Nero’s face, letting the tip of the blade dangle just an inch above his nose. “Once I kill you, I’ll make sure to use your body to massacre your kin!” Nero roars out of rage and frustration as even his greatest efforts to escape fail to get Mundus to move. He wasn’t going to let this mother fucker hurt Kyrie!

Nero is so absorbed in trying to break free of Mundus’ grasp that he didn’t hear the van until it was right on top of him.

With a horrible crunchy impact, Mundus is sent crashing through a nearby building as Nico’s van soars right above his head and smashes into the demon king. Nero gasps for air, wincing at the bruising in his lungs as he does so. He flails around for a moment, trying to understand what happened when the van that just saved him nearly runs him down.

“Nero! Get inside damn it!” Nero scrambles towards the van, trying to get himself on his feet, but the pain piercing in his chest keeps knocking the wind out of him and he keeps falling back down to his knees. Thankfully, once he’s close enough a strong set of arms grabs him by the shoulders and drags him into the van. Nero collapses on the carpeted floor as the door is shut behind him.

“Hey Nero!” Someone starts snapping fingers in Nero’s face and he bats them away. He’s helped up onto the couch and finds Dante frantically checking him over. Seeing the annoyed look on his face causes Dante to relax a bit. “You took one hell of a beating kid, you holding up?”

“I feel like I got hit by a train.” Nero groans, trying to sit up. “Nico, where the hell are we going, he’s still back there!”

“All of you just got your shit kicked in!” Nico snaps back, swerving down a side road and hitting an unexpected speed bump of Hell Caina’s “You three better think up some sort of plan to take this guy down because he’s still stomping around town!” You three?

“Like a fiend in a cloud, With howling woe,” Oh great, he’s here too. “After night I do croud, And with night will go;” Vergil is sitting in the couch across from him, leaning forward and resting his head on the pommel of Yamato, quoting more of his nonsense poetry from memory. “I turn my back to the east, From whence comforts have increas’d; For light do-”

“For light doth seize my brain with frantic pain.” Nero finishes, causing Vergil’s head to snap up to look at him. With a strained effort, Nero reaches into his jacket and produces the book of poetry. “You said to hold onto it till you got back.” Nero tosses the book to Vergil’s feet, glad to finally be rid of it.

“Thank you Nero.” Vergil nods his head. “I know I haven’t done much to d-AGH!” As Vergil leans over to grab his book, he cries out in pain. His right arm has nearly been snapped clean in half, it’s bent at an unnatural angle and Nero can’t help but feel second hand pain just from seeing it. So he did leap in front of him to protect him.

“Like Nico said, none of us are in good shape for another round.” Dante comments as Vergil reaches with his left arm and leans back onto the couch with his book in his lap and his destroyed arm held against his side. “We need time to put together a plan.”

“We don’t have time!” Nero shouts, trying to sit up and hissing through the pain as he does so. “There’s still a hell gate in the middle of town! The longer we wait, the worse off things get.”

“Actually, about that…” Dante starts, but Nico moves on to finish for him.

“Nero, you just microwaved the entire cathedral!” She cheers. “Like, half a city block just went up in flames! My prototype worked!” Nico takes her hands off the steering wheel for a moment to applaud herself and Nero nearly ruptures something from the stress alone. “I guess, blowing up half a city block wasn’t really the plan though. Did you actually get to use it? How big was the bullet hole you left behind!”

“Nico please keep your eye’s on the road!” With a pout, Nico does as she’s told and tries her best to bottle up her excitement. The demon king is still marching around town doing untold damage. “So, do we have any ideas?” Nero scans the room, hopping from person to person before settling on Dante. Vergil leans back and braces himself for what new _great plan_ his brother has in store.

“Yeah, I got nothing.” Dante throws his hands up, disappointing everyone. “Hitting things until they die always works! We’re just not hitting him hard enough!”

“Mundus literally ate a nuclear payload.” Nero is quick to remind him. “As long as Mundus is hiding inside of Sparda, we can’t kill him.”

“So you guys need to get him out of Sparda.” Nico deducts. “How do we do that?” The van falls into a lapse of silence as everyone contemplates what to do. The silence stretches on for a bit too long and Nico actively looks for something to jostle everyone’s mind. She eventually finds a lone Empusa trying to cross the road and swerves the van directly into it, feeling the van lurch upwards as the massive insect explodes underneath the tires. Shaking up the van sadly doesn’t shake anyone out of their silence though. “Maybe I could go back home and try to make another Tomboy Mk3?”

“NO!” Nero is quick to shut that idea down. “We can’t go home, I don’t want that bastard to follow us back!” The van falls silent as everyone begins brainstorming again before Nero speaks up. “How about you Vergil, you got any bright ideas up there?” Vergil perks up when his name is called, almost as if he were falling asleep and he had just woken him. Vergil sighs and shifts on the couch, careful not to disturb his broken arm.

“I’m sure Dante will shoot down any plan I come up with.” Vergil snidely remarks. “Because according to him, _I’m_ the idiot brother, even though his only plan was to keep wailing on Mundus like a Neanderthal.”

“Oh come on, seriously?!” Dante starts throwing a fit. “You’re going to pull that card? Now? At least I came up with something, you’re just calling me out to avoid telling your own stupid plan!”

“See, I told you.” Vergil smirks. “I haven’t even said it yet and he’s already dismissing it.” God, how the hell was Nero related to this asshole?! He’s almost twice his age and he’s acting worse than Kyle does!

“Vergil I swear!” Nero pushes himself off the couch to lean towards his father. “I will take your stupid sword and rip V right back out of you! At least he had the de… Wait…” Everyone leans in to listen to what Nero has to say, ignoring the threat that this new plan buried. “The Yamato! We can use the Yamato to get Mundus out!”

“If a bomb couldn’t, why would his sword?” Nico asks over her shoulder, doing her best to keep driving rather than stop to watch all this unfold.

“Yamato can separate anything in two, right?” Nero looks to Vergil for confirmation who gives him a nod. “Then we should be able to use it to separate Mundus from the body of Sparda! Without a body to hide in, he’d be easy picking!” After a moment's silence while the plan settles into everyone’s mind, Dante whoops and claps Nero’s back.

“God damn, that’s the greatest plan I’ve ever heard!” Dante cheers. “You sure as shit didn’t get em from your old man, but you got smarts kid!” Dante’s good mood rubs off on everyone else, even Vergil manages a chuckle. After the horrifying and painful battle against Mundus, having a genuine moment of hope lifted everyone’s spirits back up and they were ready to keep fighting despite their injuries. Unfortunately, all of that enthusiasm died when Nero opened his mouth again.

“It's settled then! Give me the Yamato.” Nero holds his hand out to Vergil and the mood shift within the van is violent and sudden. Dante’s happiness is replaced with a growing dread as the rare smile on Vergil’s face quickly arches into a frown and his relaxed demeanor locks up and becomes defensive. As Nero steps forward to take his prized sword, Vergil quickly pulls it back and close to his chest.

“It’s mine, I’ll do it!” Vergil quickly snaps back, shifting along the couch to avoid his sons grasp.

“Your arm’s broken.” Nero is quick to point out. “You’re in no shape to fight.” Vergil seems to take offense to this and looks down to his destroyed right arm. Before either Dante or Nero can discern what he’s doing, Vergil firmly grasps his right forearm and forcibly snaps it back into place. Nero cringes as he hears various cracks, and Vergil grows 3 shades paler with the effort. Despite the fact that he is clearly in pain, Vergil refuses to make a peep and, almost as if to prove he was fine, shifts Yamato over to his right hand.

“I’m fine…” He huffs with a shaky breath. “I will not stand aside while Mundus still lives. I can still fight.” The van is left in a stunned silence for a while after that display. Vergil and Nero were different in a lot of ways, but clearly stubbornness was one of the traits they shared. Unfortunately, that meant that Nero wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“You can’t fight!” He insists, holding his hand out again for the Yamato. “Give me it!”

“Why?!” Vergil snaps back. “You have your own!”

“Not anymore I don’t!” Nero retorts. “Last I saw of it, it was embedded in Mundus’ skull and I blew that shit to the moon! Give me your fucking sword!”

“Why not have Dante step outside then!” Vergil pushes himself up to his feet, getting into Nero’s face. “Give it two minutes and he’ll come back inside with at least half a dozen different swords embedded in him for you to choose from!” Any further arguments are halted as Nero draws Blue Rose and presses the barrel against Vergil’s forehead.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me after I knocked you around so hard, so I’ll repeat myself one more time.” Nero threatens. “I’m not going to let you get in my way and hold me back! I need the Yamato to protect my family, and if you’re going to keep it from me, that makes you an enemy.” Vergil is furious and stares his son down with one of those mortal killing death glares, but Nero doesn’t budge. “Think of it as child support. You owe me for leaving me in an orphanage all my life!” Dante watches while the dread he felt earlier solidifies in his gut. Please work this out, please work this out, please work this out.

“Fine.” Dante visually deflates when Vergil shoves his prized sword into Nero’s arms. “But I will not sit this out! I’ve fought for years without Yamato by my side, I’ll manage without it.” Nero accepts this compromise and returns Blue Rose to its holster, turning his attention to the sword he’s been given. Unsheathing the blade lights up the back of the van with a dim blue light as the blade flares up in Nero’s hands.

“I missed you too.” Nero chuckles as he reveals the blade in its entirety. The Yamato is almost entirely engulfed in a bright blue flame which flickers as Nero waves the sword around. He doesn’t have the space to swing it around and get used to the feel of it again, but when he flexes his arm to get a closer look at the shine of the blade, a familiar sight catches his eye. Looming right behind him in Yamato’s reflection is the phantom like devil trigger that helped him through Fortuna six years ago. Nero raises his left arm, and sure enough the phantom devil mimics his movements over his shoulder. Reaching out, Nero finds he still has his more recent demonic arms from the qliphoth as well, giving him a total of six usable arms now!

“What form of power is…” Vergil stares in awe at the spectral demon hovering over Nero’s shoulders. “You said you were holding back before... How much power do you really have?!” Vergil looks to Dante for answers, but he isn’t of any help.

“I already told you the secret brother.” Dante shrugs, occasionally throwing glances towards Nero who’s still flexing his arms and showing off. “He’s got a lot of people depending on him, and all of those people are giving him the power he needs.” The both of them continue to watch the young devil hunter with a mix of awe and pride. Looking past Nero though, he finds someone else is also unable to take their eyes off of him. “Um hey, Nico! I think something’s standing in the roa-!” The whole van snaps to attention as the van slams into something at top speed.

“Oh shit!” Nico snaps back to attention to get the van back on track and finds there’s a bigger problem than she was expecting. **“OH SHIT!”** She just hit one of Mundus’ puppet Angelo’s, and rather than being pulled underneath the van, it managed to crawl up onto the hood. Nico takes her hands off the wheel and leans back in her seat to reach for her rifle. Before anyone in the back of the van has a chance to do anything, Nico levels her rifle right at the Angelo and opens fire through the windshield. Her shot lands directly in the Angelo’s chest plate, shattering it and kicking it hard enough for it to fall off the hood. With a meaty crunch, the Angelo is crushed underneath the van, causing it to lurch to the side as Nico desperately tries to regain control of it.

“God damn it, I just replaced the windshield two months ago!” In her desperate attempt to avoid crashing into anything sturdier than the knight they just ran over, Nico slams her feet down on the breaks. The van swerves out of control and almost tips over on its side, but once the smoke clears everyone inside is safe to catch their breath.

“Well shit.” Nero sighs. “Mundus knows where we are now.”

“Then it’s time to drop you boys back off.” Nico nods, shifting the van into reverse. Before she can begin backing up though, an explosion goes off somewhere near the edges of town. “What was that? Is the military here?” A second after asking the question, the explosion is followed by a powerful bolt of lightning crashing down about 5 blocks down the road.

“I was wondering where my girls were!” Dante laughs. Lady and Trish were here!

“Alright! New plan, because I know you three have done more thinking in the past five minutes than you’re probably used to!” Nico shifts into high gear and turns the van around, returning to the place she picked Nero up at. “I’m dropping you boys off to fight the big bad, then I’m off to pick up the girls and give you backup!”

“Man, I gotta go on more hunts with you two!” Dante says as he tries to find a decent spot in the van to hunker down in. “I could get used to having other people think for me!” Everyone follows his example and finds a spot to hold out in, no doubt Nico will hit some speed bumps along the way. Nero continues looking over the Yamato, examining its edge and running his thumb across the guard. Looking up, he finds Vergil staring at him, fuming with what he can only assume is jealousy. Not wanting to sit under his gaze any longer, Nero comes up with a compromise.

“If I give you the sheath to smack things with, will you get off my case?” Nero holds out the Yamato’s sheath for Vergil to take. Vergil goes on to lecture him.

“Do you plan on wildly swinging my ancient blade around like you would any other sword?” He scoffs. “Yamato’s saya is just as important as its blade. Proper use of Yamato requires deep knowledge of iaido fighting techniques and-”

“Do you want the sheath or not?” With a grunt, Vergil takes Yamato’s saya without another word. Hunkered down by the workshop, Dante pumps his fist and counts this interaction between them as a victory. They actually got through a conversation without threatening violence against each other! No doubt the two of them still have a long way to go before things smooth over, but this was one step closer to them getting on good terms with each other.

“Alright boys!” Nico calls back, hitting the brakes hard. “Big guy’s just up ahead! It’s showtime!” Kicking the door open, Nero takes a step out of the van but pauses when he sees Nico get up out of the driver's seat. Slipping past Vergil, she boots up the jukebox and cranks up the loudspeakers she’s installed in the wall next to it. While she was never in the middle of Nero’s fights, she knew how important having a good soundtrack was and installed this sound system to blast their music through the van.

The music starts up just as Nero hits the ground.

Vergil and Dante follow close behind him as the van rumbles with the bass blasting out of the speakers. Nero matches his pace with the beat, Dante nods his head along with the music, Vergil doesn’t seem too pleased with the song choice but appreciates the effort Nico is putting into this encounter. Nico sticks around for just a few seconds as they walk off to let the song worm its way into their head before taking off to pick Trish and Lady up.

And slowly creeping down the street towards them is Mundus himself.

“So, shall we work on drawing attention to allow you a clear shot on Mundus?” Vergil suggests.

“This guy’s got shit for brains.” Nero comments. “He’s going to just blindly chase after whoever hurt him the most, and unless you can match the damage I did, he’s not gonna leave me alone.”

“So our plan is just beat on him until you stab him with the Yamato?” Dante shrugs. “Eh, works for me. Tactics aren’t really my forte.”

“Then you two can have fun getting destroyed.” Vergil grunts. “I’ll give you the opening you need if you don’t manage to kill yourself before then.” Mundus picks up his pace from a slow saunter to an unsteady run towards the three and they split in different directions down the street in response; Vergil running to the left, Dante to the right, and Nero charging straight for the demon king.

“I’m right here!” Nero throws his arms wide and taunts the king as he rushes him down. “Try and hit me!” In response to his taunts, Mundus closes the thirty foot gap between them in only a couple of seconds, his blade coming down over his shoulder to smash Nero into the pavement. Nero doesn’t move out of the way or raise Yamato to deflect the blow, instead he catches Mundus by surprise by introducing him to his spectral devil trigger. The specter clashes blades with Mundus, stunning him and wasting his short term power boost. Heaving its sword up, the specter shoves Mundus backwards, causing him to stumble back as Nero quickly closes in to land the finishing blow.

Of course, it couldn’t be that easy.

Mundus had limited control over Sparda’s body, but he isn’t solely relying on it anymore now that a considerable chunk of it was missing. While the rest of his body was fumbling backwards and trying to regain balance, his fleshy left arm shoots forward and attempts to grab Nero. Nero tries to kill all forward momentum to stop himself from running right into his hand but Mundus has no bones in his body to limit his reach, he can keep stretching his arm out until he grabs him. Thankfully, before he gets too close, a large red shockwave severs his fingers, causing him to retreat back into the safety of Sparda’s corpse.

“Hey Nero!” Dante calls out from his side, making another swing with his sword and launching a powerful projectile towards Mundus. “I know you probably figured as much, but don’t let him touch you!”

“Yeah no shit!” Nero calls back, backing off and reevaluating his strategy. Blowing his arm off might have actually made him even more dangerous. Nero already had a close call when Mundus managed to grab his right arm, and judging by the puppet Angelo’s under his command, letting that parasite get inside him was a death sentence. What the hell were they supposed to do then if they can’t get close?

And where the hell did Vergil run off to?

\---

Vergil’s heart nearly stopped when Mundus attempted to take his son. Dante and Nero, like the oafs they were, charged in without a second thought and already came up against a brick wall. They’ve damaged Mundus’ host and now he’s desperate to find a new one. Vergil will not stand to have either his brother or his son become a slave to Mundus.

Watching from the rooftops, Vergil looks down at the battle being waged beneath him, desperate to find some way to assist them. Dante, in a fit of uncharacteristic brilliance, ordered Nero to stay back and stick with projectile based attacks to avoid being overtaken by Mundus, but Vergil is helpless to assist them in that regard. His summoned swords weren’t as powerful as the various firearms at the others’ disposal, he wouldn’t be able to do enough damage to justify breaking concealment and revealing his position.

If he had Yamato in his possession, he wouldn’t have this problem. Using Yamato, he could easily wait till Mundus was about to attack and perform a judgment cut to disarm him. Lying in ambush and striking an opponent with their back turned wasn’t really Vergil’s style, but Mundus didn’t deserve an honorable fight. As it stands now, Vergil is essentially unarmed, hiding away from Mundus and praying he doesn’t hurt his family. He can’t sit still, he refuses to. He needs to take action! But he’s powerless right now…

How does Nero do it?

Vergil would never say it out loud, it even felt treasonous to think it in his own head, but Nero scared him. How could someone so young, so inexperienced have so much power? Vergil had been fighting his whole life, always improving, always pushing himself to be better; Nero just _was_ better.

Over the past year, his thoughts have constantly returned to their conflict at the top of the qliphoth. His resolve during that fight was something Vergil strived to obtain for himself. In less than an hour, Nero had gone from a devil hunter that nearly stood on equal footing with V, into a monstrous powerhouse that matched him blow for blow, and all that power came about because of him.

Nero tapped into this strange well of power to save _him._ The demon king, the monster who stole his arm, the murderer who sacrificed all of Red Grave for his own gain, the liar who hid this truth from him till the very end. His father. Despite everything that’s happened between them, that one fact gives Vergil hope that there’s still a chance for them to settle things; Nero risked everything to save his life, even after everything he’d done. Vergil desperately wanted to repay him in kind, but struggled to find the same strength his son had.

Nero and Dante frantically dart around the street, trying to keep their distance and getting worryingly close to Mundus when he gets his short bursts of speed. Vergil is nearing a breaking point, his mind resorting to insane strategies such as throwing himself at Mundus and using himself as bait to allow Nero to land the killing blow. No doubt it would result in his death, but to save his son…

Staring at his son, Vergil ends up focusing on the boys original devil trigger. It wielded an exact copy of the blade in Nero’s hands. Sifting through his memories on the qliphoth, Vergil remembers something similar happening back then as well. Nero had managed to wear him down and while he was catching his breath, Nero put his curved sword away. He reached for a separate blade on his hip, a katana much like his own. Was he able to create a doppelganger of the Yamato?

And yet the punk insisted that he had a real sword…

Watching the fight continue below him, Vergil wonders how he would replicate such a power. His summoned swords had a limit to how big they could be before they simply exploded from the amount of power he was trying to squeeze into them. His own doppelganger technique was flawed and imperfect, he had only managed to sustain it with the power boost the apple gave him. Could he somehow fuse both of those abilities together and create a new sword?

He needed a proper weapon to protect his son, and seemingly because of this intense desire, Vergil felt a weight settle into the saya in his left hand. Vergil felt a strange power running up his left arm and looking down at his saya, he found a bright blue blade resting within. Was this it?! The power his brother spoke of, the power Nero possessed? With a pained wince, Vergil uses his right hand to draw the blade and gasps at what he pulls out. A brilliant blade of pure power, his determination and resolve to save his son honed to a razors edge.

This was it, the power he neglected, a power he never knew existed - the power his humanity offered him.

Vergil lets this sword fall back into his saya and hunches over, resting his right hand on the handle. His right arm still sends blinding twinges of pain through his body, no doubt actually swinging the sword will do him more harm, but if he can time his attack just right, the damage he does will more than make up for the pain. It would just be another sacrifice, one made in good faith this time.

Nero is still moving on the ground, pressuring Mundus with shots from his revolver and making daring attempts to slash and stab at him with Yamato. Every time he gets close, every time Mundus reaches for him, the hammering in his heart and the shine of his blade grow stronger. He bides his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, praying that Nero can hold his own until the opportunity reveals itself.

Nero’s done a good job of avoiding Mundus’ left side, but he’s getting careless and ignoring his right arm which still carries the massive sword that broke Vergil’s arm. Mundus makes another desperate reach to grab him, lurching his whole body forward to give him the reach he needs. Nero quickly backs off and jumps to the left to get into what he’s now falsely assumed to be Mundus’ blind spot. The lurch Mundus made wasn’t one of his boosts, and while Nero drops his guard to prepare for another charge, Mundus rears his sword back to strike him down.

Now!

Vergil quickly draws his summoned blade and unleashes a flurry of slashes before returning it to its sheath. His cuts are sloppy and misplaced due to the lack of proper control in his hand, and the pain that comes immediately after returning the blade strangles the breath out of him and darkens his vision, but Vergil clings onto consciousness despite the pain to see the fruits of his labor.

His judgment cut managed to hit Mundus’ right shoulder just as he boosted it to swing for Nero. Rather than sawing Nero in half with the swing, the arm goes careening down the street behind him, his sword embedding itself in one of the buildings. Mundus lets out a strangled cry as he stumbles to the side to look over the damage, and while he’s distracted, Nero looks up to find Vergil watching from above.

“No sword and I still did more damage than your little bomb did!” Vergil declares smugly, crumpling down and trying to hide the horrible pain shooting up into his shoulder. Nero seems baffled by his words for a few seconds, before hiding a laugh and shaking his head. Seeing his son smile was almost enough to kill the pain in his arm. The surge in his heart seeing that smile gave him reminded him of feelings he hadn’t felt in years, and he was eager to feel them again. “I’ll leave the rest to you!”

Nero focuses on the dismembered Mundus once more. The mass within Sparda’s corpse desperately shifts and stretches to counterbalance the missing limb and actively works to push its way out into a brand new arm. If Nero doesn’t act now, Vergil’s efforts will have only made Mundus even more dangerous. Now was his time to do something stupid and desperate, but he’d need help to give himself an opening.

“Dante!” Nero turns to face his uncle before issuing a command and hoping for the best. “Piss him off!”

“Oh, that should be easy!” Dante wastes no time arming himself to perform such a simple task. Seemingly from out of nowhere, Dante produces a massive rocket launcher from his jacket, one that Nero remembers seeing hidden away in the back of Nico’s van before he carried V to Urizen. “Ay, Mundus!”

The demon king flails around furiously, desperately searching for his weapon but stopping to see who dared speak to him. As soon as he stops to look at Dante, he opens fire, sending a massive beam of concentrated energy right into the soft exposed flesh poking out of his helmet. The beam burns straight through, pushing out of the other side of his helmet, causing him to howl in pain again. With a rage filled scream, Mundus begins blindly charging for Dante, his one remaining arm reaching out to grab the despicable devil hunter that has caused him years of suffering.

It was now or never.

Nero knows he can’t get close enough by simply running up on Mundus, he has to get in there fast. With no devil breakers to rely on, that meant he had to rely on his own natural abilities, and thankfully he’s managed to give himself the power he needed thanks to the Yamato. Activating his devil trigger and extending his wings, Nero holds Yamato at the ready, holding it above his head and getting ready to stab forward. His spectral devil trigger grabs him, hoists him up, and Nero lies flat in its palm as it rears him back. Mundus’ attention is still stuck on Dante, and with a few adjustments in his aim, Nero readies himself for the finishing blow and has his spectral devil trigger chuck him like a javelin right at Mundus.

Mundus in his blind fury doesn’t see him coming and Nero manages to soar over Dante’s head, past Mundus’ grasp and sinks Yamato hilt deep into his chest. The deafening scream Mundus lets out is unlike any of the others he’s heard before, and he retaliates immediately. Arms reach out from the cracks and seams of Sparda’s armor, digging into Nero’s forearms and face, but he refuses to back out and puts all his strength into twisting the blade. As he twists and jerks the Yamato within Mundus’ chest, the grasping arms trying to claw him open begin to weaken. Clawing for purchase on Sparda’s armor, Nero climbs up his chest, dragging Yamato with him and feeling something pull along with the blade. Sparda’s legs give out first as Nero manages to pull the parasitic Mundus up with the blade and using his specter’s support, Nero pulls himself higher and higher, feeling Mundus desperately try to cling to his host to avoid being ripped out into the surface. Drawing the blade up his chest, across his neck, and finally up to his head, Nero rips the massive demon king free of Sparda like a prawn out of its shell, and with a fling of the Yamato, he’s thrown to the ground with a bloody splat as Sparda’s body finally collapses.

Nero crashes to the ground hard, exhausted after expending all of his energy on that all out attack. With a flash of blue light, dozens of small blue swords rain from the sky right over Mundus, puncturing him and pinning him to the ground. A few seconds later, Vergil appears by Nero’s side, holding a hand out to help him up. Nero reaches up and takes his hand, this deadbeat had a _lot_ to answer for, but he wasn’t going to refuse his help now.

“This isn’t over!” Nero winces as the disgusting blob splattered all over the street cries out in anger. “I will return, and I will rule the world!”

“Get some new material Mundus!” Dante is quick to retort. “You’re sounding like a broken record now!” In response to Dante’s comeback, Mundus starts raving absolute nonsense, fury and rage garbling up any possible sense he might have made. Without a host to hide in, he was powerless to defend himself, the fight was over, and this time they were going to make sure it was for good. “So, how do we want to do this? This is Nero’s job so I’m thinking he should get first dibs on chopping the demon king up a bit.”

“I’ll do it.” Vergil declares, leaving no room for arguments. “My sword?” Vergil holds his hand out toward his son. “I want to end this battle with my own hands.”

“Um…” Nero backs off. “Not gonna lie, the last time you said those exact wo-”

“Hey.” Dante grabs Nero by the shoulder and shakes his head. “Let him have this.” Nero hesitates for a moment, but reluctantly gives the Yamato back to Vergil who swiftly returns it to its sheath. Vergil slowly approaches the undulating mass of Mundus with a worryingly wicked grin on his face. Vergil stomps on top of the fleshy mass of Mundus without fear, sending summoned swords into any limbs that attempt to reach for him. He eventually pauses when three large eyes appear within the center of the mass to stare him down.

“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve fantasized this exact scenario?” Vergil leers over the three gazing eyes of Mundus. “To finally have you at my mercy, able to finally extract my revenge for all you’ve done to me?” Biting down through the pain, Vergil raises Yamato up and stabs it between Mundus’ eyes, savoring the screams he lets out in response. “I don’t want to kill you, I want to drag this out! To force you to feel the same pain you inflicted on me daily!” Dragging the sword along the ground, Vergil rips Mundus in half, both physically and spiritually, doubling the amount of screaming but halving its intensity.

“You broke me down into a hollow shell of myself!” Vergil thrusts Yamato back into Mundus and with another slash rips him apart again. “You filled my veins with your poison! You gave me nightmares that haunted me years after I escaped!” Another stab and tear, rending Mundus in two, just for Vergil to rip that half in half again. “No matter how loud you scream, I know you’ll never feel the pain I felt when you killed my mother! A devil like you has probably never felt love in his life!” Vergil’s vision has gone red, the pain in his arm growing into a dull throb as he keeps hacking away at the monster at his mercy. “YOU MADE ME THIS WAY, AND I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE YOU SUFFER THE WAY I WANT YOU TO!”

“Vergil!” Hearing Dante’s voice drags Vergil back into the present, allowing him to see what he’s done. Mundus has been completely destroyed, the demon king reduced to nothing but a knee high pile of gore below him. His right arm is screaming at him, demanding he stop, but he wants to keep going, to keep wailing on the devil who stole so much from him, but it was pointless. He was finally dead.

Vergil drops Yamato to the ground and tries to wade his way through Mundus’ remains, making his way to the corpse of his father. Would he be proud of him, of what horrors he committed to avenge him? Would Donatella approach him if she were here to see him now? Was his son afraid of him?

Dropping to his knees by Sparda’s side, he finally gets a closer look at him without Mundus hiding within him. What happened to him? Did he fall in battle against Mundus years ago? Did Mundus torture him just as he did his son? He didn’t want to believe that his father died to such a monster. Was he scared for his wife and sons? None of these were questions he’s asked himself before. Sparda was gone, that was all he knew, but actually seeing him here caused dread to overtake his every thought. How often did he even think of him as his father? He was always the legendary dark knight, a legend he strived to match, not the man who raised him, taught him to fight and read and…

He misses him, he misses him so much.

“Father…” He shudders as the realization finally kicks in. The grief that he bottled up and avoided for over thirty five years finally sprung free, and all Vergil could do was mourn for his father. “I’m sorry…”


	7. You're Only Human

All Nero could do was stare in abject horror at the scene playing out before him. Seemingly out of nowhere, Vergil had turned from the stoic, aloof devil hunter into a raving madman who attacked without mercy. It wasn’t necessarily the screaming and bloodshed that scared him, but the fact it was Vergil doing it. He was absolutely livid, practically foaming at the mouth with rage as he slaughtered the demon king.

Why did it remind him so much of himself?

When he was finally finished, he collapsed next to the body of his father, completely drained and devastated. Even after all of that emotional turmoil, Vergil tried to keep a stoic look on his face, always threatening to break down but holding on by a thread. Nero has no idea what he’s gone through or what Mundus did to him, but it’s clear he’s hurting bad. But what was he supposed to do about it? He has no idea what to do or how to console him, he turns to Dante hoping he would act first, but he’s gone quiet watching his brother with a look of confused hurt in his eyes. He’s just as clueless as he was. Man, both of them were awful at this.

Thankfully, an obnoxiously loud distraction was racing down the street to meet them.

Nico’s van rumbles to a stop a few feet behind them, still blasting music at max volume. When the door kicks open, someone inside turns the volume down before funneling out and coming to a stop just outside. Trish and Lady are here, and Nero realizes that he actually managed to stop the invasion himself before they arrived! A moment of disbelieving silence settles between the two groups as the girls take in the fact that Dante was back. Lady is the first to break the silence.

“Oh god damn it!” She stomps her feet on the ground. “I just managed to get the smell of grease and jack out of the carpets and _now_ you show up!”

“I missed you too!” Dante breaks out into a hearty laugh, moving in to hug the girls he hadn't seen in years. The moment he gets close though, Lady holds out her hand expectantly.

“Give me Kalina Ann back!” Dante backs away and tries to play dumb, but that doesn’t work when playing dumb is his solution to most arguments. It also didn’t help that the rocket launcher was clearly hanging off his shoulder. “Don’t think your debts were waived just because you’ve been in hell for the past year. In fact, I’m expecting interest.”

“Jeez, you haven’t changed a bit.” Dante sighs as he pulls Kalina Ann from his shoulders and passes it to the walking arsenal with a look of longing in his eyes for the massive rocket launcher. Once Lady is satisfied, he turns his attention towards Trish.

“You know, I told you the rugged hobo look wasn’t really working for me, and I see you’ve decided to double down on it.” Trish looks Dante up and down, taking in the sights.

“You finally turned around on the look?” Dante strikes a pose to show off his style, but Trish shakes her head while audibly exhaling out her nose.

“Hobo’s smell better than you do now.” She sighs as she moves to cover her nose. “We’re not taking you back home unless we hose you down first.” Nero isn’t sure if this was supposed to be a happy reunion or not, but after a moment of awkward silence, Dante and the girls break into uproarious laughter. “Oh it’s been way too long since we last saw you! So, where’s the demon commander?”

“You just missed it!” Dante throws his arms up before bringing one down around Nero’s shoulder and pulling him in. “My little nephew here just cleaned house!” Upon hearing this news, Lady raises her eyebrows in surprise and Trish gives Nero a small applause. “I mean, I helped. And we wouldn’t be able to do it without the help of… Where did he go?” Nero whips around when he hears Dante say that and to his horror he finds that Vergil has vanished, leaving Yamato behind in the remains of Mundus.

“God damn it!” Nero shoves Dante aside. “Where did that son of a bitch go!”

“Hey! Watch it!” Dante grabs him by the shoulder to draw him back. “Nero, how about you just calm do-”

“I’m not gonna-” Nero grabs for the scruff of Dante’s shirt, but the moment he pulls him forward the threads come loose and Nero pulls off a fistful of fabric thanks to the wear and tear his shirt took from withstanding the very same motion from Vergil countless times. Throwing the fabric to the floor, Nero grabs the collar of Dante’s jacket instead. “I’m not gonna calm down! He’s not just gonna run off again now that he doesn’t have anything holding him here!”

“Look, I’m gonna go find him and he’ll work things out, ok? Now, let me go so I can-”

“You’re not off the hook either!” Nero holds Dante in place when he tries to wander off. “You’ve got your own fair share of explaining to do! You knew he was my father the entire time and you never told me?! What else have you been hiding from me? Is there a reason you pushed me away from all the big jobs? Did you think I wasn’t good enough?” Dante shrinks away from Nero with each question and when he stops for him to explain himself, Dante lets out a tired sigh.

“I’ll admit, I’ve done a pretty shit job at being the cool uncle.” Nero lets go of his collar and Dante steps back. “There really isn’t an excuse for hiding that from you, and I know that saying sorry six years too late isn’t going to make it up to you. But I want to help make it up to you by bringing your father back!”

“You seem overly forgiving of him.” Nero frowns. “I wouldn’t know about any history you had with him,” He comments in a demeaning tone, “But he killed those people in Red Grave. I’ll be the judge if he’s changed.”

“I promise you he has!” Dante insists. “You don’t need to worry about him, I’ll watch over him.”

“I don’t trust you with him!” Nero snaps back. “Are you just going to wave off all those deaths because he’s your brother?!

“I don’t want you wasting time trying to hunt him down.” Nero’s about to object, but Dante shushes him quickly before continuing. “I want you to go back home to your wife without having to worry about him.” Nero chokes up on his own words, caught completely off guard. “I saw the ring on your hand when I pulled you into the van. It’s that Kyrie lady who always answers the phone when you’re busy, right?”

“Y-yeah.” Nero wipes his nose, thumbing the ring on his finger. “She must be hovering near the phone waiting for me…”

“I hate that I missed the wedding kid, but that doesn’t matter right now.” Now Dante grabs hold of Nero’s shoulders and leans forward. “Call her.” He orders. “Let her know you’re safe. Finish the job, then come home safe and sound. I know you have doubts about Vergil, but I don’t want you to worry about him. Let him be my responsibility. If I believe it's for the best you’ll never see him again, but I promise you he’s changed.” Nero wants to argue against him, pointing out that he’s quite possibly the least responsible person he knew, but he can’t say it straight to the face Dante gives him. The stern and tired look he gives him was something he’s never seen before. The eccentric devil hunter was dead serious, letting his facade slip long enough for Nero to understand that.

“Fine.” Nero relents and Dante lets him go.

“Thank you.” Dante nods. “I won’t let you down this time.” With a deep breath, Dante seemingly summons back up his regular smile to speak with the girls again. “Sorry to cut our heartfelt reunion short, but I gotta run. I’ll leave you two in the good care of my nephew until I wrap up some unfinished business.” Clapping Nero on the shoulder, Dante runs off down the street, disappearing into the dust and debris in search for his brother. Nero watches him fade away, praying that he keeps his word. Walking forward towards the bloody remains of the demon king, Nero kneels down and picks up the Yamato. Why did he leave it behind? He was so possessive of it, there’s no way he just forgot it. With a sigh, Nero turns to face the girls with a renewed sense of resolve.

“Alright, listen up!” Nero calls out as he marches towards the van. “I want the two of you to split up and comb through the borders of town and work your way inside. Saving people's lives is a higher priority than chasing demons deeper into town. Come on, let's move!”

“Oh so you’re the boss now, are you?” Trish chuckles, resting a large metallic suitcase on her shoulder. The passenger side door of the van flies open and Nico leans out.

“Damn straight he is!” She retorts. “This is our home field, so we call the shots!” Nico settles back into her seat as Nero climbs inside and reaches for the phone. “Hey Lady, pick out a good song!” The girls funnel into the back of the van and start blasting music again, even though Nero was clearly about to make a call. He decides to let it slide though, getting Kyrie to actually hear him would be a challenge, but the music should be a clear sign that they’re in high spirits and that everything’s under control. This was what, the third time he’s saved the world now? No doubt Kyrie will scold him for worrying so much.

“Hello?”

“Kyrie!” Nero raises his voice once he hears hers to be heard over the radio. “You still holding up alright?”

“Of course but… Can you find a quieter place to call from?”

“Yeah, Nico’s not gonna turn it down.” Nero shakes his head, watching Nico break into a smile when he mentions her name. “I’m just calling to say we’re wrapping things up. I’ll be back home in no time!” Hearing Kyrie laugh on the other end of the line, even through the blasting music rumbling through the van eases his soul and eats away at the worries over Vergil. “I got quite the story to tell you when I get home.”

“You say that every time you go on these big hunts!” She giggles. “I’m sure it’s not that crazy.” Oh she has no idea.

\---

Nothing made sense to Vergil anymore. His thoughts were already a jumbled mess when he became whole again, but now he can barely control his own emotions. He kept freezing up, Nero’s words had a habit of stinging deeper than even Mundus’ poison, and he had completely lost himself once Mundus was at his mercy. What was wrong with him?

He couldn’t face the others while he was this vulnerable so he left, desperate to recollect himself before anyone saw him again. His hands are restless by his sides, desperate to grip onto his battle companion. He left Yamato behind to insure he wouldn’t give up on Nero. No matter how lost and confused he was, he refused to run away again. He was tired of running, but now that Mundus was dead, he was finally allowed to rest.

Vergil is scared he doesn’t know how to though.

He’s always slept with one eye open, he always scanned the shadows for danger, he always remained vigilant. Being unarmed now and wandering the streets of the town felt suicidal, but the small part of his mind that still held on to reason knew better. He had only just tapped the potential of this new power he discovered, but he’s confident that he could slaughter Mundus all over again if he needed to. So why can’t he still his heart?!

Maybe it has something to do with where he is.

It hadn’t occurred to him when he arrived, but he remembers this place. This was Fortuna, and in what felt like a completely different lifetime, he used to walk down this same exact street. Walking these streets again after so many years brought a feeling in his chest he couldn’t describe, and a feeling he knew all too well now; guilt. This place that used to bring a small shred of comfort to him was now in ruin because of him. He wonders if his childhood home is still standing after all that happened in Red Grave.

“Vergil!” Vergil’s heart stops, halted by the shock that runs up his whole body. That wasn’t Dante or Nero, who else knows his name? “Lord Vergil, I’ve found you!” Crawling out of a nearby storm drain is the loathsome bug Magnus. Feeling returns to Vergil’s fingers and he takes in a shuddery breath. Why did hearing his name do this to him? Who was he expecting?

“Lord Vergil Sparda!” Magnus throws himself down and prostrates himself before Vergil, resting his head on the blood soaked concrete. “My lord, allow me the honor of congratulating you for defeating the treasonous general who challenged your rule! You are our true king!” Following close behind Magnus, a group of demons begin crawling out of the darkness, dragging the husks of Mundus’ puppets with them as peace offerings. A Fury drops one of them at his feet before taking a knee and bowing. There’s nothing inside the hard exoskeleton of the puppet but dust, Mundus’ soul has been so thoroughly destroyed his proxies have fallen apart as well. “We patiently await your next command.” Magnus says, unable to hide his excitement.

Vergil is left feeling conflicted once more. Decades of struggles and sacrifices and he’s finally achieved his dream. He is now the undisputed king of the underworld, the demons he was so afraid of as a child now bowed before him. So why could he only feel disgust right now? Did Mundus crush another dream without effort? Is the idea of sharing the same title that repulsive to him that he no longer wants it? What the hell does he even have left then?!

“Return to hell where you belong.” Vergil commands, causing Magnus to raise his head in confusion. “I am laying claim to the entirety of the human world. This is my territory, and I command you to return to your own. You may rule whatever you wish in hell, but any demon I find up here I will consider a threat to my rule, and I’m sure you’ve already seen what I’ve done to those who challenge my title.”

“If that is what you wish, my lord.” Magnus bows his head again before pushing himself off the ground and running off. The other demons who had gathered hesitate, but when Vergil shoots them a glare, they scurry off to follow Magnus into whatever hellhole they can find. Once they’re gone from his sight, Vergil lets out a sigh of relief. He still holds the title of demon lord he fought so hard to acquire, but with this action he is only lord in name. He doesn’t care for the black throne any more, and while it’s a huge weight off his shoulders to finally admit that, he’s now at a loss for what he wants now. He’s obtained all the power he needs, he’s called his subjects off, he’s still not ready to face Dante or Nero yet.

Who does he go to?

\---

It was the last place he wanted to find her, but it was the only place he could think to look. Wandering the streets wasn’t going to yield any results, so he made his way back to the ruins of the cathedral. The whole building as well as the surrounding block had been reduced to flaming rubble after Nero’s first scrap with the demon king. It was already in a state of disrepair when he arrived, but there was one locale nearby that still got traffic - The cemetery.

It sat just out of reach of the blast radius, the only sign of destruction was the smashed in fence Vergil crossed through to enter. Once he entered the threshold of the cemetery, he began looking over each headstone, looking for her. Michaela Oberto, Callisto Gaspari, General Credo. With every name he passed, that optimism that he caught from Dante lights up. Maybe he won’t find her here, maybe she’s in hiding and she’ll reveal herself once the invasion is over. Maybe, just maybe…

Donatella Bruna…

Vergil’s throat went dry when he saw her name etched on the headstone before him. He knew she was most likely dead, he knew that he would find her here, but much like with his father, actually seeing her here made him feel weak. The headstone was faded and chipped, the date long since eroded, but Vergil didn’t need it to know when and how she died. It’s because he wasn’t there. He was strong back then, no where near what he is now, but knowing what power he could have obtained simply with his desire to protect her…

Why couldn’t he do anything right?!

Vergil fell onto his knees and embraced the headstone, feeling something well up inside him, threatening to burst free. Nothing worked for him, nothing ever went his way! Everytime he thought he was making the right choice, a worthwhile sacrifice, it all blew up in his face! Summoning the Temen Ni Gru; banished to hell! Growing the qliphoth; irreparable damage to his soul! Leaving Donatella to do all this foolishness alone… It was all his fault!

“Vergil?” Of course Dante would find him. Vergil pulls away from Donatella’s headstone but remains kneeling in front of it. Dante was a buffoon, but surely he had enough sense to know he didn’t want to talk right now. He hears him approach and stop just behind him, his shadow peering over his shoulder. Why couldn’t the fool take the hint! Did he really have to spell it out for him?! “It’s not your fault, Vergil.”

_**“It’s not my fault?!”**_ Those words triggered something inside Vergil and before he knew it he was back up on his feet. “I will not have you talk down to me Dante! I know you’re not blind, everything _IS_ my fault! I might as well have killed her myself!” Vergil cringes as he hears his voice crack. Why was he letting his emotions run wild like this? “Do you really think saying it isn’t my fault is going to make it better?!”

“Vergil, you don’t understand.” Dante holds his arms out. Is he trying to keep him back, is he trying to agitate him?

“And you would?!” Vergil spats back, stomping forward. “You’ve never lost anything! You know nothing about loss! You-!” Before he can get another word in, Dante lunges forward and embraces Vergil, squeezing him tight. He tries to push him away, but Dante refuses to loosen his grip.

“I lost you.” Dante tells him. “I keep telling you that but you never listen.” Vergil wasn’t going to sit here and listen to him repeat the same garbage over and over again, but Dante does something he’s never seen him do.

He starts crying.

“How many times do I have to tell you before you get it through your thick skull!” Dante tightens his grip on Vergil. “I lost mom and dad, just like you! I spent years believing you were dead, and when I found you… I was so happy!” Vergil feels something rise to his throat when he feels Dante’s body rack with sobs. “And then I lost you not a month later! Years later, I fought you again on Mallet Island, and when I realized it was you… I felt like I had stabbed myself in the heart. I thought that I could save you, that if I got to Mundus first you would be ok. I held on to that guilt for over twenty years Vergil! For over twenty years, I thought that I killed my own brother. Don’t you dare tell me I’ve never lost anything!” Vergil could barely breathe through the heaviness in his chest. When was the last time Dante confided something like this to him, when was the last time he’s seen him cry, if ever?

“I don’t want you to go through what I did.” Dante continues, trying to fight the tears to get his point across. “This guilt has been killing me for years and I don’t want you to hurt that much after everything you’ve already gone through. I don’t care if you think it’s your fault Donatella died, you have people who need your help right now.”

“I’m scared.” Vergil has to force the words to come out of his mouth through the lump in his throat. “I’ve ruined so much already, I don’t want to hurt Nero.” He tries to breathe in through his constricted chest. “I don’t want to hurt him like hurt everyone else.”

“You’re only human.” Dante insists. “It’s ok to be scared.” Hearing him say that felt like a spell had been lifted from Vergil. He wasn’t allowed to be scared, fear made him irrational and predictable, he had to smash his fears into nothing because he couldn’t afford to feel that way. But there was no getting around the fact that he was terrified for his and his son's future.

And finally accepting that allowed Vergil to cry.

His tears had started to well up again, blurring his vision, but he held them back, refusing to let himself become vulnerable. But caught in his brother's embrace, allowing himself to feel emotions he bottled up for so long, he couldn’t stop the tears from finally spilling, and once they did he couldn’t stop. It started as a steady stream of tears, but once he got going everything else tried to break free as well. Within seconds, he was wailing into Dante’s shoulder.

It was like his body was purging itself of decades of repressed feeling he refused to acknowledge, and in a horrible moment of clarity, Vergil realized this was just another way Mundus had broken him. Ever since that fateful day when his mother died, he’s never cried. From the moment he was nine, Mundus had already planted a seed of evil in his mind, warping him into the monster he became. He had been conditioned since childhood to become the unfeeling relentless devil Mundus wanted under his command. Every tear felt like a drop of Mundus’ poison being wrung from his body, and he didn’t want to stop until he couldn’t cry anymore.

“You’re only human.” Dante repeats, both for Vergil and himself. Both of them have gone through hell in more ways than one, but they’ve finally found solace in each other. He wasn’t going to lose his brother again.

“A fact that I’m reminded of time and time again.” Vergil grumbles, though he finally comes to terms with that fact. His humanity has been fighting to be heard for years, it’s about time he’s listened to it. He may look vulnerable and weak now, but burning in his chest is a determination to change, for his sake and everyone else's. For Dante, who shares the same grief he does. For Donatella, who had tried to help him discover this part of himself. And to his son Nero, who deserves a loving father he denied him for his entire life.

He was going to make a change.

But where was he supposed to start?

“I need time.” Vergil finally manages. “I’m not ready to face Nero just yet.” Dante pulls away from him and nods. “I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to fix things yet.”

“You don’t have to be perfect.” Dante chuckles before throwing his arms wide. “Hell, I made it this far and I’m an absolute mess.” He was most likely going for humor, but Vergil can’t help but worry for his brother after everything he just told him. “No one’s asking you to be perfect, just that you put yourself out there and try.”

“Ok.” Vergil nods. “I promise.” Dante sighs with relief and for once Vergil sees it not as his brother testing him but being genuinely happy that he was making the right choice. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” Vergil turns his back on his brother. “I haven’t finished paying my respects.” Vergil returns his attention back to Donatella’s grave and hears Dante walking away behind him. He’s left alone to grieve in peace once more, still feeling a heaviness in his heart but knowing things are going to get better. Nero was the last thing Donatella left him, and he was going to cherish it.

When he starts to tear up again, he lets them fall freely. Humans were far stronger than he thought, how anyone could control the emotions running rampant within him was a mystery, one he intended to learn alongside his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, what a ride this has been. I never would have thought I'd get this much love and support for a fanwork I wrote, especially since this was the third one I posted publicly! All of you were amazing and you made writing this story even more fun than it already was.
> 
> I have so much more I want to add to this story, and I know all of you would love to read them, but I'd like to take a small break from Devil May Cry for a while. As fun as writing this series is, I have a lot of original works I've been pushing aside to finish this and make it the best it could be. Don't think this is the end of the story though! I'll be back to continue Vergil's story of redemption soon! How soon? ...Maybe this year? I can't say when I'll be back but you better bet I will be!
> 
> Until then, thank you all again for reading.


End file.
